UK pushes back deadline for new security scanners at airports

Ministers have for a second time pushed back a deadline for airports to install security scanners allowing passengers to leave liquids inside hand luggage, after the UK’s biggest hubs warned they were struggling to fit the technology. The Department for Transport had given all large British airports until June this year to install the advanced scanners, but on Thursday it extended the deadline by up to 12 months. The new machines work like CT scanners in hospitals to generate three-dimensional images of bags, and promise to cut queues at security by allowing travellers to ditch miniature toiletries and leave liquids and laptops inside cabin bags. Under current rules, passengers have to remove laptops, tablets and liquids from their cabin bags, and can carry only liquids of 100ml or less. Some airports, including London City, have already installed the scanners, and the government estimates that about 50% of passengers will use the new machines when they pass through security this summer. Last year, 272mn people flew out of UK airports, according to the Civil Aviation Authority, the regulator. The extension to the deadline differs by airport: the longest offered by the government is 12 months, meaning all passengers flying out of the UK should be able to use the new security processes by June 2025 at the latest. Airports that had not installed the new kit by that date would face “serious” fines from then, the DfT said. “The UK is leading the world with its rollout of this technology, but it’s important we give those airports yet to meet the deadline a second chance to get the job done,” said transport secretary Mark Harper. But Naomi Leach, deputy editor of Which? Travel, a consumer group, said the extensions risked causing confusion.<br/>