Curbs on carrying liquids on board to stay for 5 more years

The stern restrictions now in place on carrying liquids and gels in hand luggage on flights have been extended by another 5 yeas.The rigorous rules on carrying liquids in hand luggage was introduced after a group of British Muslims were arrested and accused of using liquid bombs disguised as soft-drinks bottles in order to blow up trans-Atlantic planes in August 2006.

The rules require that passengers flying out of airports in the United Kingdom and the United States should not carry any kind of liquid  including gels, pastes and creams  in containers larger than 100 millilitres.

Those travelling with infants are being asked to taste any baby milk they intended to carry on their journey in front of security staff.

Passengers are also prohibited from taking electrical or battery-powered devices on board.

In the United States, all liquids and gels, including toothpaste, make-up and suntan lotion, were first banned from flights. The ban was later relaxed to allow passengers to carry one piece of baggage of a certain size into the cabin, while they were also allowed to carry gels and liquids in bottles of 100 millilitres or small, which must be in a clear plastic bag.

When these restrictions were first imposed, airports had witnessed disorder and there were long queues at security checks as passengers were uncertain about what they could carry in their hand baggage.

Even to this day, widespread confusion and misunderstanding prevail at airports over these rules. Airports had to appoint additional security staff to inspect hand luggage, and the extra security checks, in turn, have resulted in delays at airports, especially during peak holiday season.

The British Airports Authority (BAA), the United Kingdoms biggest airport operator which runs 8 airports  including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports  had to post an extra 3,000 security personnel to check liquids and gels in hand luggage. The costs incurred by the airports and the airline industry on account of the curbs on liquids have been estimated to come to hundreds of millions of pounds.

So, understandably, both the airline industry and passengers have been keen on having the stiff rules on carrying liquids on flights taken away, especially in the wake of the convictions of three British Muslims accused of plotting the worlds biggest terrorist crime. The three men were, on September 8, 2008, convicted of conspiracy to murder, but the jury failed to decide whether or not a group of British Muslims had intended to destroy trans-Atlantic planes using liquid explosives.

In a statement, the Department of Transport of the United Kingdom said: We base our rules on the latest assessment by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre. The current national threat level remains at severe  which is defined as an attack is highly likely.

Though certain airport operators, including the British Airports Authority, have installed security screening machines that can detect liquids in hand luggage, the liquids still have to be examined manually to determine if they are dangerous.

Hence, according to aviation experts, the curbs on liquids in hand luggage are likely to stay till a technology that can detect dangerous liquids is developed.

British newspaper The Independent quoted an official of the Britain-based Virgin Atlantic Airways as having said: The time is right to look at the restrictions on carrying liquids in hand luggage. We have been calling for a review of the rules for a long time, along with many other airlines and airport operators.