Getting to the plane will be easier for passengers.
New control devices mean that computers and liquids no longer have to be taken out of hand luggage at the security checkpoints.
The previously required unpacking takes time and is one of the reasons for longer queues.
Timo Kotowski
Editor in Business.
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Philip Pickert
Business correspondent based in London.
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With the use of new devices that work with computer tomography technology, the requirement that liquids may only be taken in tubes or bottles up to 100 milliliters will no longer apply.
This should also make it possible to take a drink in a bottle with you, which was previously prohibited.
However, passengers in the coming year cannot yet rely on being able to enjoy the new freedoms before every flight.
Because the restrictions only fall where the new computed tomography scanners are.
An expansion program is starting at Munich Airport, it has a volume of 45 million euros, 60 new hand luggage scanners will be purchased, said the responsible air authority in southern Bavaria.
The first three control lanes will be equipped after the turn of the year.
New machines are also being used at Frankfurt Airport.
In the first quarter, however, there will only be seven.
New hurdle for a transitional period
The certification of the devices, which is now available, was pending in Germany for a long time.
The fact that they are now being set up in Frankfurt is also related to the fact that the Fraport airport group will take over control of the security checks from the Federal Police at the turn of the year and will be able to procure certified devices itself.
A special regulation has always applied in Bavaria, with the Air Authority South of the government of Upper Bavaria being responsible for the controls at Munich Airport.
On the other hand, where the new devices are not yet in place, little will initially change for passengers.
An EU regulation stipulates that liquids, aerosols and gels - LAGs for short - must be taken out of bags "unless the device used to check hand luggage can also screen several closed LAG containers in luggage." Must liquids, creams and toothpaste are taken out, the 100 milliliter limit remains for the time being.
Since the conversion at airports is taking place gradually, this can pose the problem for passengers in a transitional period that the new technology is available to them with fewer requirements at some checkpoints, but not at others.
Great Britain wants to be completely converted by 2024
Great Britain is also gearing up for a new age of control – without unpacking electronics and liquids.
The installation of new, improved scanners at security checkpoints is progressing, confirmed Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye.
The Ministry of Transport has set a deadline of mid-2024.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had given the country's airports a deadline of 2022 to upgrade, but everything was delayed because of the corona crisis.
Since the end of 2006, there has been a general EU-wide regulation that passengers may only transport a maximum of 100 milliliters of liquid or shampoo in small bottles in their hand luggage.
The condition was triggered by the foiling of an Islamist terrorist attack in London.
The terrorists had planned to blow up up to 10 planes with liquid explosives hidden in soft drink bottles.
It would have been the largest attack by suicide bombers since the 9/11 attacks.
The British police stopped the terrorists after a surveillance operation in the Islamist milieu.
Other countries were faster
The ban on liquids was issued as a temporary measure, but it proved to be very permanent.
First, new devices had to be developed, approved and procured.
The new scanner models enable 3D images and provide the aviation security assistants with a clearer picture of the contents of the baggage.
The older machines only produce a two-dimensional image.
But above all the approval took a long time in some places.
The devices have been in use at American airports, for example in Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, for years.
They are already working in some EU countries, including Ireland and the Netherlands.
In Germany there have only been test runs in Frankfurt, Munich and Cologne so far, but that will change in 2023.
The new technology aims to speed up security checks and shorten waiting times at airports.
Inexperienced passengers in particular have lost time at the checkpoints if they did not pre-sort the liquids in their hand luggage.
It should also ensure that several passengers can drop off their jackets and bags at the same time in front of the new control systems instead of one after the other.
Tests had shown that this change – even without new scanners – contributes to more passengers being able to pass through a control lane.
However, this sometimes requires modifications to the terminals, as the newly designed control lanes are longer than the previous ones.