A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said: “Our new security area was designed, and resourced, to accommodate the increase to two litres being carried in cabin baggage, this currently cannot be operated with the temporary restriction.”
The airport previously said it expected to raise the 100ml limit to two litres from June 1, bringing it into line with other airports such as London City and Teesside International.
Following the DfT re-imposing the lower limit, however, all airports are now subject to the maximum-of-100ml-rule until further notice.
The explanation for the delays will have provided little comfort to passengers who were stuck in lengthy security queues outside Birmingham Airport on Sunday morning.
Interior designers Wesley and Pete Richards, who were flying to Cyprus from the Midlands airport on Sunday morning, joined the security queue at 5.18am – and got to the other side at 6.58am.
‘A terrible start to the holiday’
“Got through Birmingham Airport security queue with the boards telling us ‘final call’,” Wesley posted on X, formerly Twitter, as he chronicled the couple’s time in the queue.
“No time to buy anything, get food, go to the loo, make use of the lounge I’ve paid for or sit down after being on our feet for well over two hours. Absolutely shambles and a terrible, stressful, exhausting start to the holiday.”
Nick Barton, the airport’s chief executive, said passengers were partly to blame for the lengthy queues.
“A non-compliant bag with liquids over 100ml can add up to 20 minutes to each passenger’s journey through security,” he said.
“Since opening our new security area, and despite being one of the first UK airports to comply, we have been limited on the use of our multi-million-pound equipment due to an outstanding regulatory restriction meaning we had to limit liquids to 100ml,” he told the BBC.
“Despite the 100ml rule still being in place, we continually have non-compliant bags with liquids over the allowance which have led to inefficiencies of our equipment and resulted in extended queuing time for customers.
“It is now imperative that all customers comply with the nationwide rule to ensure a smoother and simpler transition through the airport.”