LONDON — There will be no more rummaging in the bottom of your bag for a forgotten hand cream or water bottle at London City Airport after it became the first of the capital’s hubs to scrap the 100ml liquid limit rule.
Thanks to new high tech scanners, travellers going through security at City will be able to carry up to two liters of liquid, will not have to put toiletries in a separate bag and can leave laptops and other electronics in their hand luggage.
Britain wants the new scanners installed at all airports by June 2024, helping ease security queues as passengers will no longer have to take multiple items out of their bags.
London City, 10 miles east of central London and mainly serving European destinations, is the busiest British airport to introduce the technology so far, following smaller operator Teesside in north east England earlier this year.
London City’s Chief Operating Officer Alison FitzGerald said the passenger journey would be much less stressful without the hassle of unloading different items from hand luggage.
“The new process delivers a much more efficient security operation with enhanced security screening,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
Britain introduced the 100ml liquid rule at airports in 2006 when police foiled an attack plot involving liquid explosives at Heathrow.
A handful of airports in the United States plus Amsterdam’s Schipol hub have already installed the high-tech scanners. Britain’s biggest airport Heathrow has tested them. — Reuters