The number of bags containing liquids having to be manually searched after going through Edinburgh Airport 's new 3D security scanners has doubled since the UK government's U-turn on lifting the 100ml limit. Chief executive Gordon Dewar said the "backtrack" decision was "deeply concerning" because of the cost of the new scanners. Edinburgh - Scotland’s busiest airport - has two of the new machines in use, which work like CT scanners in hospitals, along with traditional X-ray machines, to check passengers’ hand luggage for suspicious items.
It has told travellers to stick to the 100ml limit because they will not know which type of machine they will be directed towards when entering security. The airport said the extra manual searches involved “people bringing larger bottles through the new scanners”. The new “C3” scanners have enabled passengers to carry up to two litres of liquids at airports such as Aberdeen and London City , and Edinburgh planned to do the same after its machines are fully deployed by the end of this year.
Electronic equipment will also no longer have to be taken out of bags. However, the government announced in June the 100ml limit, originally introduced in 2006, was being temporarily restored “to enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems”. The restriction will also be reintroduced at all EU airports from September 1.
Mr Dewar told a meeting of the Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee this week: “That's not proven too disruptive to us because we were still working in 100ml because we have a mix of C3s and X-rays, so we couldn't give a message about bringing anything more than 100ml because we couldn't guarantee you'd be on a C3 machine.” But he added: “It has increased the number of rejects, however, because if a larger bottle had gone through our C3s up until a few weeks ago that was acceptable, so it wouldn't be rejected. Now it is rejected.
“It has probably doubled our reject rate and therefore increased the searching we have to do and the delays associated with searching. But in terms of the scale of things, that's been a relatively modest impact on us.” Alastair Dalton’s newsletter will bring you the best Transport stories and analysis from across Scotland Mr Dewar also expressed alarm at the wider impact of the government’s move.
He told the watchdog group: “It is deeply concerning about the business - everyone has put in these machines on the basis the 100ml limit was not going to be required. “The government moved the goalposts, so there is a lot of disruption around Europe about how we are going to deal with that.” He hoped it would be soon resolved.
Mr Dewar said: “I'm really confident what we're doing is going to see a major benefit for the consumer and we are hoping to be complete on all of that by the end of the year.” A spokesperson for the UK Department for Transport (DfT) said: “Passengers should arrive at airports with liquids in containers no larger than 100ml. We are working closely with airlines and UK airports to ensure they are prepared to minimise any disruption over the peak summer period.
“It is a temporary measure and we are working with manufacturers, airports and international partners to lift restrictions when possible.”.
