We have the technology to end the airport liquid ban, so why is it still in place?

(CNN) — A silent revolution is underway in how we transit airport safety — but most of us won’t even have discovered.

The necessity to put liquids into 100-milliliter containers and choose electronics out of bags has been a staple of air vacation for approximately 16 a long time. Nonetheless, at many airports all-around the globe new technological know-how is presently in area that will let that rule to be scrapped, and some are now commencing to drop the ban.

Back again in Oct 2021, Shannon Airport, in the west of Ireland, quietly introduced its new condition-of-the-art computed tomography, or CT, scanning stability program, mounted at a charge of €2.5 million (about $2.6 million).

Liquids and electronics could now remain in bags, with no limitations on liquid quantity, and cabin luggage could be whisked by means of the scans in new larger sized trays.

It really is not the 1st time Shannon, Europe’s most westerly airport, was a world-wide pioneer. The world’s initially Duty-Free store opened below in 1947, and in 2009 it turned the very first airport in the planet, exterior of the Americas, to give complete US pre-clearance services.

“It is 1 of the assignments Shannon Group took on all through the interval of significant travel limitations on aviation,” Nandi O’Sullivan, the group’s head of communications, tells CNN Journey.

Carried out throughout the pandemic, it was only when intercontinental vacation resumed in March 2022 that the airport’s transfer started out to gain wider notice. Donegal Airport, in the northwest of Eire, has also adopted suit by setting up new technology and dropping the 100-milliliter rule.

Improved safety, shorter traces

So how does this new CT engineering function, which airports are previously applying it, and why aren’t extra destinations soothing their constraints?

Kevin Riordan, head of checkpoint options at Smiths Detection, the corporation that delivers Shannon’s stability gear and a world wide leader in computed tomography technology, points out.

Just as with the CT scans we know from hospitals, the security scanners at airports swap regular 2D X-ray scanning with a lot a lot more exact 3D imaging.

“You can get a great deal of data from a 2D impression but if you’ve got obtained a 3D object in your hand you get a good deal additional data,” says Riordan.

“From a protection place of check out, they’re equipped to make incredibly precise decisions about what the components are in your bag: Is it a very likely danger product or is it benign. That is improved stability, much better conclusions.”

A lady transiting stability at Ireland’s Shannon Airport.

Courtesy Shannon Group

Shannon Airport estimates that time spent likely by way of its passenger security screening will be halved by the new know-how, and unsurprisingly, Riordan says that passenger comments has been really good at airports wherever the new machines have been trialled.

The liquid ban was launched all around the environment soon after a transatlantic terrorist plot was foiled in August 2006, in which a team prepared to detonate liquid explosives on board various flights. It really is become aspect of every day existence, but numerous of us fondly remember the times when safety strains were being faster and luggage-packing was less difficult.

Gradual rollout

CT engineering first began to make headlines back in 2018. The scanners had been trialled at main airports like London Heathrow, New York JFK and Amsterdam’s Schiphol. The next calendar year, Heathrow declared that it was investing £50 million (about $62 million) in a gradual rollout of the know-how throughout its airports with a deadline of 2022.

In July 2020, it was announced that London Southend Airport would become the 1st in Britain to fall the apply of generating passengers just take their liquids and electronics out of the bags prior to heading via safety.

Amsterstam Schiphol has also been utilizing CT technologies at all its checkpoints considering the fact that 2020, Dennis Muller, senior spokesperson for the airport, tells CNN. But as opposed to Southend or Donegal, it is really a main intercontinental hub. It’s no longer mandatory for its passengers to adhere to liquid restrictions, but the airport advises that they use 100-milliliter containers all the exact same, to prevent complications when flying to other jurisdictions.

“The Netherlands has moved more rapidly, possibly, than most,” suggests Riordan. “The British isles has truly mandated that know-how by 2024, and that would allow for all restrictions about what you can carry on to be lifted.”

The moment a lot more nations are equipped to full total nationwide rollouts of the know-how, we will start off to see more airport and locations start to see the ban getting lifted or peaceful — but adjustments to laws will not come quickly or universally, and it can be a modifying landscape.

Staffing constraints

“It really is a continuing process for us as suppliers,” says Riordan. The present-day staffing constraints “puts force on us to style and design functions that are a lot a lot more economical. CT know-how is the greatest offered, but is there a wise way of employing it, to optimize it?”

Just one innovation is multiplexing: “You set a stream of luggage by way of a machine and the visuals are despatched to (three or 4) unique operators, not just just one operator for each device. That is 1 way of trying to compensate for this lag in staff and improve in passengers.”

Shannon has 4 new Smiths Detection EDS CB security CT scanners in location.

Courtesy Shannon Team

Business enterprise circumstance

The cost of employing this new technological know-how is not low cost, and smaller airports, already having difficulties write-up-Covid, may perhaps discover upgrades a problem.

Each and every will have their possess scheduled cycle of updates and improvements to take into account — covering all the numerous constraints and calls for of a 21st-century hub.

When nations mandate the up grade, far more airports will be under tension, but right until that time, on an particular person airport amount, it is really about the business enterprise case. Efficiency and customer satisfaction is of system of paramount importance, but shorter stability lines signifies also passengers finding airside a lot quicker — and expending far more dollars in airport retailers and eating places. “It is really distinct in unique international areas. it’ll happen at diverse speeds,” suggests Riordan.

It’s much too early to forecast how fast items will development, but with airports like Shannon and Schiphol main the way, we could see developments in subsequent few many years — and with the sector recovering, it’ll probably be faster rather than later.

CNN reached out to Heathrow for remark for this story.

All images courtesy Shannon Team