European airports reintroduce stricter rules on liquids in hand luggage

Stricter rules on liquids and gels in hand luggage will come back into force at all EU airports from 1 September, Frankfurt Airport announced on Wednesday. Across the EU, travellers will only be allowed to carry packages of up to 100 millilitres. They will also have to repack liquids in a transparent plastic bag with a maximum volume of 1 litre.

The original security rules for liquids and gels were introduced in 2006. They were relaxed at some airports where baggage could be checked using CT scanners, which use technology developed for medical scans and can quickly produce a three-dimensional image of the contents of a bag, like at Frankfurt airport.

But the EU has doubts about the reliability of the new CT scanners. The more lenient rules will therefore be abolished from 1 September. Medicines and liquid baby food are excluded from the new rules. Whether the change will be permanent depends on an investigation of the scanners' reliability.

The new EU rules still allow liquids to remain in hand luggage during security checks with the new scanners. But liquids and electronics must be taken out and shown separately at a check with conventional scanners, which are still used at many EU airports.

This is the case at Brussels Airport, for example, where nothing will change. The airport in Zaventem does not use the new CT baggage scanners and has always enforced the stricter rules for liquids and gels.

^{© PHOTO AFP}