Airports bash EU for not following the UK on easing security checks

BRUSSELS — EU airports are pushing the European Commission to follow in the tracks of the U.K. and scrap rules limiting European air passengers passing through high tech security checkpoints to 100-milliliter mini bottles.

ACI Europe, the main airport lobby, sent a letter — seen by POLITICO — to Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas on Thursday calling for a rethink of the bloc’s more restrictive approach.

“This is impacting passengers as regards the carriage of liquids, slowing down operational processes, increasing waiting times and requiring additional security screening staff — which will lead to disruptions during the peak summer months if these restrictions are not lifted by the end of the month,” the letter said. 

The liquid limit has seen radical shifts in policy that airports complain cost them a fortune.

EDS CB C3 screening technology (also known as C3 scanners) allows passengers to avoid the infamous 100-ml limitation — introduced in 2006 due to terrorist threats — and keep their liquids in their bags at security checkpoints. 

The scanners have been installed at major hubs such as Munich, Rome, Frankfurt and Milan, as well as at smaller airports like Palma de Mallorca and Vilnius.

But the Commission banned the practice in September as a “precautionary measure not in response to any new threat but addresses a temporary technical issue.”

That eliminated the main incentive for airports to invest in C3 scanners, which are “on average eight times more expensive than the conventional X-ray screening machines they are replacing, while operating maintenance costs are four times higher,” ACI Europe said in reaction to the EU decision.

The liquid limit has seen radical shifts in policy that airports complain cost them a fortune. | Stefan Zaklin/EPA

Similar restrictions were introduced in the U.K., but the country backtracked in April and once again allows larger liquid containers.

That has the industry calling on the EU to follow suit.

EU airports feel that they “continue to be left with a slow, opaque and bureaucratic process no longer suited to address the security demands of a geopolitically unstable world, putting EU airports at a distinct disadvantage in terms of innovation, costs, operational efficiency — and ultimately their competitive position,” the letter said.

ACI Europe wants the Commission to allow C3 scanners to be “certified by the EU at the earliest — and in any case before 1 July 2025.”

The process to change the policy is ongoing and “new equipment could be validated shortly,” Commission spokesperson for transport Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said in an emailed statement.

“The testing and validation of screening equipment are conducted according to procedures established by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC),” she said, adding that the Commission “has been urging all participating ECAC member states to expedite their efforts and promptly submit the required documentation and test results.”