Despite new smart scanners, airport liquid limits will stay, says EU

The new technology had shown some promise of faster proceedings at hubs such as Frankfurt Airport

Following the installation of new-generation CT scanners at Frankfurt Airport and other German airports, the strict rules on liquids in hand luggage had been somewhat relaxed giving passengers the hope that long security checks would become a thing of the past. Alas, the European Commission has ruled that the old rules mandating 100 ml limits of liquids will stay on after raising doubts that the new scanners can effectively detect the content of liquid containers.

This means that regardless of the scanner technology present, from 1 September all EU airports must follow the rules from 2006. This means that passengers can carry only 100 ml liquid containers, and these must be placed inside a re-closable plastic bag with a maximum capacity of up to 1 litre.

100 ml liquid rule stays on

In a way, nothing changes as most airports on the continent have not introduced the new types of scanners. The CT scanners operate similarly to the ones used in the medical sphere by quickly producing a three-dimensional image of the contents of a bag.

The EU, however, seeks to avoid confusion and standardize the security checks proceedings across all airports in the bloc, which is why it passed the ruling of returning to the old rules from 1 September no matter which flight hub you might be using.

This means that liquids and electronics must still be unpacked and presented separately at checkpoints with conventional scanners.

Medicines and liquid baby food, however, are excluded from the new rules. Whether the change will be permanent depends on a more thorough investigation of the scanners' reliability.