City airport to ease rules on hand luggage liquids

LONDON City airport will no longer require passengers to take liquids out of hand luggage from next April – ahead of Government plans to lift restrictions on the size of bottles allowed on board planes.

The airport said it was replacing its X-ray machines with CT scanners which means travellers will no longer have to remove liquids, making it quicker to pass through security.

The £12m upgrade, expected to be completed by next summer, will make

London City airport among the first to install hi-tech CT scanners, amid reports that airports have been given until the middle of 2024 to make changes to security technology.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the Government is considering ripping up all security restrictions on liquids and laptops, thanks to thescanners which can differentiate between materials.

This would mean people would no longer be limited to 100ml bottles of liquids on planes. A formal announcement, stating the restrictions will go within two years, could come in weeks.

Alison Fitzgerald, London City airport’s chief operating officer, said the plans to upgrade across the airport come after a successful one-year trial, and meant “the journey through the airport in 2023 will be slicker than ever”.

Figures this week suggested London City airport had the quickest queues through security, Consumer group Which? found that it took an average of 12 minutes for passengers to be processed. At Birmingham and Manchester airports, some travellers said they had had to wait more than an hour to travel through security.