If you’re flying anywhere in Europe in September, you should make yourself familiar with some new rules coming into effect at EU airports from this weekend.
For passengers travelling with hand luggage on flights, new rules are coming into effect from September 1 around liquids in your hand luggage.
The European Commission has questioned the reliability of next-generation scanners at EU airports and has called for a temporary restoration of the previous model.
This means airports using the new C3 scanners — which usually allow passengers to leave liquids and electronic items in their bags while being scanned and which removed the need for the 100ml restriction on each liquid, aerosol or gel — will be reverting to older methods to process passengers through security.
The effectiveness of the new scanners was questioned by a technical report that the Commission sent to the European Civil Aviation Conference last May which notes that they cannot guarantee the scanners’ reliability for containers with a content of more than 330ml.
From September 1, airports using C3 scanners will have to revert to traditional X-ray machines, which may cause delays at some airports.
The Commission describes the measure as “temporary” but has not given an end date. The Airports Council International Europe (ACI) describes the rule changes as a major setback for both passengers and airports.
“Those airports which have been early adopters of this new technology are being heavily penalised both operationally and financially,” says Olivier Jankovec, ACI EUROPE Director General.
“They had taken the decision to invest and deploy C3 scanners in good faith, based on the EU having greenlighted this equipment without any restriction attached. The decision to now impose significant restrictions to their use questions the trust and confidence the industry can place in the current EU certification system for aviation security equipment. We need to draw the lessons from this situation and make sure the EU certification system provides the necessary legal certainty and operational stability moving forward.”
It’s back to 100ml bottles in sealed plastic bags, unfortunately, and taking out electronic devices for scanning too.
If you are travelling through an airport that has C3 scanners, such as Dublin Airport, from September 1, you should pack your carry-on luggage the same way you would have a few years ago — so no large bottles of sun cream, and leave the big bottle of perfume at home, or pack it into your check-in luggage.
C3 scanners have been in use in Dublin’s two terminals for some time, with the airport confirming last April it was on track to have replaced all scanners in both of its terminals by October 2025. All passengers will have to remove their liquids from their bags when being scanned at both terminals from Sunday. However, only passengers travelling through Terminal 1 must fit all their liquids into one 1L clear plastic bag. Passengers in Terminal 2 have no limit on clear bags or 100ml containers.
Shannon Airport also has C3 scanners so passengers travelling through the airport may be impacted from Sunday. They say each liquid, aerosol or gel cannot exceed 100ml but they can remain in passengers’ hand luggage when being scanned.
However it is business as usual at Cork Airport, which has yet to upgrade to C3 scanners so security screenings will continue as normal. A new mezzanine floor is to be constructed at Cork Airport in 2025 to accommodate C3 scanners at the airport. It is unclear at this point how the updated rules will affect the airport’s plans to install the new scanners.
Travellers should also take note of the airport they are flying to and plan accordingly if it is among those affected by the temporary move away from C3 scanning.