London City airport to allow laptops and liquids through security in hand luggage
Passengers will be able to leave laptops and liquids in their hand luggage when passing through security at London City airport from next year.
The hub is trialling one security lane equipped with advanced baggage scanners and plans to introduce the machines in all of its lanes by April.
The airport in the east of the capital said it will be one of the first in the UK to offer full CT – or computed tomography – scanners.
The airport said it would replace its conventional security X-ray machines with the new technology.
Passengers failing to remove items from their bags or travelling with large bottles of liquids and creams are the biggest cause of delays at airport security.
The new system will mean that travellers can leave everything in their hand luggage before going through the X-ray machine.
It emerged this week that security restrictions on liquids and laptops in airport hand luggage could be abolished in the UK in 2024 due to the deployment of hi-tech 3D scanners.
The government is considering rolling out the advanced technology in two years, although a final decision had yet to be made, a source told the BBC.
The new technology, which has been trialled at London’s Heathrow airport since 2017, enables staff to zoom in on a bag’s contents and rotate the images for inspection.
London City’s chief operating officer, Alison FitzGerald, said in a statement: “Following our one-lane trial this year, we know the new CT scanners are high-performing and our passengers love them … It also delivers the highest security specifications.”
London City airport was recently ranked “best-performing UK airport for security queues” in a recent survey by the consumer group Which?.
Currently, passengers taking liquids in their cabin bags are restricted to containers of up to 100ml, which must be placed in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag when they pass through airport security. The rules have been in place since November 2006.
The advanced scanners are already in use in US airports such as Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia, and O’Hare in Chicago as well as Helsinki airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol.
