100ml plane limit takes off again
AIR travellers who hoped the “tiny toiletries” era was ending face fresh restrictions after European airports reintroduced strict cabin bag rules.
Some EU destinations had scrapped the 100ml limit for liquids being carried in hand luggage.
But the controversial restriction has been reintroduced due to a “temporary technical issue” with new security scanners. It follows a similar move in the UK earlier this summer.
The change means tourists cannot buy a large bottle of suncream, perfume or booze before getting to the airport and expect to carry it home in hand luggage.
Brussels said it was reintroducing the limits “in alignment with the EU’s international partners”, and that “swift technical solutions” would be developed. Airports Council International Europe branded the 100ml restrictions a “setback for the passenger experience” and a “blow to major investments made by airports” earlier this summer. Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe director general, said security was top priority.
But he added that airports which installed the scanners first were being “heavily penalised both operationally and financially”.
He also argued that restricting their use “questions the trust and confidence the industry can place in the current EU certification system for aviation security equipment”.
Some smaller UK airports – including London City, Newcastle and Aberdeen – did drop the old liquids rules at the start of the summer.
But the Department for Transport announced in mid-June that 100ml liquids limits must be reintroduced where they had been dropped.
There is no date for when the unpopular rules will be relaxed again.