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 protection — but most of us is not going to even have observed.

The prerequisite to place liquids into 100-milliliter containers and get electronics out of luggage has been a staple of air journey for almost 16 decades. Even so, at lots of airports all-around the world new technologies is currently in spot that will allow that rule to be scrapped, and some are now commencing to drop the ban.

Back again in October 2021, Shannon Airport, in the west of Eire, quietly announced its new state-of-the-art computed tomography, or CT, scanning security method, mounted at a expense of €2.5 million (about $2.6 million).

Liquids and electronics could now continue to be in baggage, with no limits on liquid quantity, and cabin luggage could be whisked by the scans in new larger sized trays.

It can be not the initial time Shannon, Europe’s most westerly airport, was a world wide pioneer. The world’s initial Obligation-Free store opened below in 1947, and in 2009 it grew to become the 1st airport in the earth, exterior of the Americas, to offer entire US pre-clearance amenities.

“It is a person of the tasks Shannon Team took on in the course of the time period of critical journey limitations on aviation,” Nandi O’Sullivan, the group’s head of communications, tells CNN Journey.

Applied throughout the pandemic, it was only when international vacation resumed in March 2022 that the airport’s shift begun to obtain wider interest. Donegal Airport, in the northwest of Eire, has also adopted fit by setting up new technological innovation and dropping the 100-milliliter rule.

Far better security, shorter traces

So how does this new CT technological know-how get the job done, which airports are previously employing it, and why aren’t additional areas soothing their limitations?

Kevin Riordan, head of checkpoint methods at Smiths Detection, the corporation that supplies Shannon’s security gear and a world-wide leader in computed tomography technological know-how, points out.

Just as with the CT scans we know from hospitals, the safety scanners at airports swap standard 2D X-ray scanning with significantly more specific 3D imaging.

“You can get a large amount of data from a 2D picture but if you have acquired a 3D object in your hand you get a large amount a lot more facts,” claims Riordan.

“From a stability place of view, they are equipped to make really accurate selections about what the components are in your bag: Is it a possible threat substance or is it benign. Which is far better safety, greater conclusions.”

A woman transiting safety at Ireland’s Shannon Airport.

Courtesy Shannon Group

Shannon Airport estimates that time invested going by way of its passenger security screening will be halved by the new technologies, and unsurprisingly, Riordan suggests that passenger comments has been very favourable at airports wherever the new devices have been trialled.

The liquid ban was released about the environment after a transatlantic terrorist plot was foiled in August 2006, in which a team planned to detonate liquid explosives on board numerous flights. It can be come to be aspect of everyday life, but many of us fondly bear in mind the moments when safety strains ended up more quickly and luggage-packing was more simple.

Gradual rollout

CT technological know-how 1st commenced to make headlines again in 2018. The scanners had been trialled at important airports which includes London Heathrow, New York JFK and Amsterdam’s Schiphol. The adhering to yr, Heathrow declared that it was investing £50 million (about $62 million) in a gradual rollout of the technological know-how across its airports with a deadline of 2022.

In July 2020, it was announced that London Southend Airport would turn into the initially in Britain to drop the apply of earning passengers get their liquids and electronics out of the luggage before going by protection.

Amsterstam Schiphol has also been working with CT engineering at all its checkpoints since 2020, Dennis Muller, senior spokesperson for the airport, tells CNN. But not like Southend or Donegal, it really is a major international hub. It is no longer required for its passengers to comply with liquid restrictions, but the airport advises that they use 100-milliliter containers all the similar, to stay clear of troubles when flying to other jurisdictions.

“The Netherlands has moved more quickly, possibly, than most,” suggests Riordan. “The British isles has in fact mandated that technological innovation by 2024, and that would enable all restrictions about what you can have on to be lifted.”

As soon as a lot more countries are able to complete entire nationwide rollouts of the know-how, we will commence to see a lot more airport and regions begin to see the ban being lifted or relaxed — but alterations to polices will not occur rapid or universally, and it’s a transforming landscape.

Staffing constraints

“It’s a continuing system for us as suppliers,” suggests Riordan. The recent staffing constraints “puts pressure on us to design and style operations that are much additional efficient. CT technology is the ideal readily available, but is there a intelligent way of utilizing it, to optimize it?”

Just one innovation is multiplexing: “You place a stream of baggage by means of a device and the visuals are sent to (three or four) distinctive operators, not just a person operator for each device. That’s 1 way of hoping to compensate for this lag in staff and boost in passengers.”

Shannon has four new Smiths Detection EDS CB protection CT scanners in put.

Courtesy Shannon Group

Small business situation

The price of implementing this new technological know-how isn’t affordable, and smaller sized airports, already struggling post-Covid, may come across upgrades a challenge.

Each individual will have their personal scheduled cycle of upgrades and innovations to take into consideration — covering all the quite a few constraints and requires of a 21st-century hub.

When nations mandate the up grade, far more airports will be beneath tension, but until finally that time, on an personal airport stage, it truly is about the small business situation. Efficiency and purchaser fulfillment is of study course of paramount great importance, but shorter stability strains suggests also passengers obtaining airside more quickly — and spending more dollars in airport outlets and dining establishments. “It is really different in various world-wide regions. it’s going to take place at distinctive speeds,” says Riordan.

It can be much too early to forecast how rapidly issues will development, but with airports like Shannon and Schiphol top the way, we could see developments in subsequent few decades — and with the business recovering, it will probable be faster fairly than afterwards.

CNN reached out to Heathrow for comment for this tale.

All photos courtesy Shannon Group