Another major airport is set to abandon the 100ml liquid rule in time for the school summer holidays, but others will miss the June 2024 deadline.
Airports in the UK are set to introduce new baggage scanners that will eliminate the need for passengers to remove liquids and electronic items from their bags.
The current rules state that liquids can only be carried in containers of up to 100ml, and came into force in 2006 in the wake of the scare.
Bristol Airport has announced plans to lift the rules, saying its new scanners will be up and running by June 14, just in time for the summer school holidays.
This means strict restrictions around 100ml of liquids will be lifted, allowing passengers to take more with them when traveling abroad and home.
The West Country airport spent £11.5 million on the new facilities, with every UK airline due this summer.
Graeme Gamble, Chief Operating Officer at Bristol Airport, told Bristol Live: “We are delighted that all customers traveling from Bristol Airport will benefit from the state-of-the-art technology that will be introduced in security.
“The new facility will reduce stress and inconvenience for customers as there will no longer be a need to put 100ml liquids into clear plastic bags and remove them from hand luggage.
“The new process provides a much more customer-friendly security operation using the latest technology and provides improved screening, allowing customers to keep personal items in their hand luggage.”
It follows Birmingham, which earlier this week became the first major airport to scrap the 100ml liquid carry-on rule in time for the half-term weekend.
Some smaller airports – London City in Docklands and Teesside Airport in Darlington – have already installed the new technology, but the vast majority are yet to install it.
It means tourists across the country will face long waits at most major airports again this summer, with London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester unlikely to be ready for the introduction of the new scanners. It is understood they now have until June 2025.
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Gatwick said it hoped to have all remaining scanners installed by the first three months of next year, a timeframe similar to that at Stansted and Manchester.
Luton and Bristol airports intend to follow Birmingham in introducing scanners by June, with Bristol investing more than £10m in security equipment.
Some airports already have the technology installed in some security lanes, but have yet to roll it out across the board.
Under new plans, all UK airports will be equipped with 3D scanner technology that can produce more detailed images, meaning passengers can go through airport security with containers containing up to two liters of liquid in their hand luggage.
The new technology will work by allowing staff to rotate, tilt and zoom each 3D image, allowing them to better inspect the contents without passengers having to remove them from their bags.
The Department for Transport previously set a June 2024 deadline for all airports to introduce the new CT scanners, however almost none of the major travel hubs are likely to miss that date.
In 2006, police foiled a terrorist plot to bring down at least seven transatlantic flights with liquid explosives disguised as 500ml drinks bottles.
In an Al Qaeda bomb plot, terrorists attempted to take a home-made mixture of chemicals disguised as ordinary drinks bottles onto a series of flights bound for the US and Canada from London.
An immediate ban on all liquids except infant milk in hand luggage came into force in both the UK and the US, but was eased to a 100ml liquid limit in November 2006.
Speaking about the innovative technology, Nick Barton, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, told The Times: “The current scanner is like a big domestic washing machine.
“The new machines are the size of a Ford Transit.”