After a short break, the airports of Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino have reintroduced the traditional limit on liquids in hand luggage.
Problems with the scanners
The new generation scanners, known as Explosive Detection Systems, have failed EU security tests and, after a short period of smoother security checks, Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino have now reintroduced traditional liquid screening.
Anything over 100ml has to go into the hold
More generally, passengers travelling in European airports will no longer be allowed - not even in airports using the latest generation of scanners - to carry on board containers of liquids larger than 100 ml. These will necessarily have to be placed in hold luggage at check-in.
A question over the effectiveness of the scans
The technology of the C3 EDSCB equipment, as these advanced scanners are technically called, displays high-resolution three-dimensional images of baggage contents from TC scans. Their effectiveness - as euronews.com explains - has been called into question by a technical report that the Commission sent to the European Civil Aviation Conference last May, according to which the software of these scanners cannot guarantee their reliability for containers with a content of more than 330 millilitres.
“It is a temporary measure”
The measure, announced on 1 August, was introduced “as a precautionary measure” due to some “technical problems,” as EU executive spokesman Adalbert Jahnz explained. “We have not changed our mind about the performance of the scanners,” Jahnz said, emphasizing that “it is a temporary measure because some technical problems have been detected on these machines.”
