Passengers travelling through European Union airports face fresh new rules starting from today.
Some airports had previously scraped the 100ml limit for hand luggage liquids but they are bringing it back due to a “temporary technical issue” with new security scanners.
From today, all travellers will be prohibited from carrying any liquids, gels, or aerosols in cans, containers or jars exceeding 100ml in their hand luggage.
The only exceptions to this rule are baby food and prescribed medicines.
Airline passengers around the world had got used to the strict 100ml restrictions on liquids, which had to be put into clear bags of a certain size.
It was first introduced in 2006 to protect against explosives. Despite only being a temporary measure, it remained in place ever since.
However, new scanning machines which use CT X-ray technology were said to enable larger volumes of liquids to go through, as well as meaning laptops were able to stay in bags.
Some EU airports, including Rome and Amsterdam, had already put these new relaxed rules in place, whilst others had been trialling the technology.
The Europe branch of the Airports Council International estimated around 350 of these new scanners are now in use across countries such as Germany, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.
Airports including London City, Teesside, Newcastle, Leeds-Bradford, Aberdeen and Southend had also dropped the old liquid rules.
However, due to the technical issue, all passengers must revert back to the 100ml rule, although it has not been said what the issue is at this time.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The Commission has not changed its opinion on the quality of this new generation of scanners and their performance has not been called into question.”
Passengers are advised to check local regulations at each airport if heading off on holiday this week as security scanner systems may vary across the UK and Europe.
There is no date for when the rules will be relaxed again so passengers must make sure they abide back to the 100ml limit.
All containers must be placed in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag that is no larger than one litre and measures about 20cm x 20cm.
The bag must fit comfortably and the contents must be able to be sealed, shown at the security airport point.
