After lessons were learned the hard way last summer, a UK airport has installed new screening lanes to avoid long queues that led to people missing the start of their holidays.
Birmingham Airport, located just outside the UK’s second-largest city, has announced it has installed two “state-of-the-art” passenger screening lanes as part of a £5m investment in the airport.
The screening lanes come after long waits at security checkpoints during the peak summer period last year, with some travellers missing their flights as a result.
The airport blames a last-minute decision by the government to change its rules on liquids, which saw an increase in additional bag checking.
“The airport has worked tirelessly to ensure that long queues do not impact the customer’s summer again,” Birmingham Airport said amid the announcement.
The new lanes will add allow the airport to screen up to an additional 3,600 passengers per hour in peak times.
The West Midlands hub was one of the only UK airports to comply with a deadline on 1 June 2024 to install modern security scanners that analyse the molecular structure of a passenger bag, meaning liquids or laptops would not have to be removed during the security process.
This would have permitted travellers to carry much larger quantities of liquids, aerosols and gels through the checkpoint than the 100ml container limit.
Ahead of the deadline and the summer travel peak, Birmingham Airport invested £60m into the new equipment, yet in a shock turnaround, airports were ordered to restore the 100ml limit rule nationwide.
As a result, many more bags than expected were being rejected and removed for a hand search during the summer.
Amid the busy summer flight period, passengers reported missing flights to holiday destinations due to long waits at security, while Nick Barton, the airport’s CEO told The Independent in June that anxiety levels among passengers were “off the scale”.
“Three-hour queues are just not a thing that happens here,” he said.
Al Titterington, the terminal operations director at Birmingham Airport said on Monday: “Last summer, some passengers experienced unacceptable lengths of queuing, so we have focused on improving the efficiencies of our processes and how we support our customers on their journey, as quickly as possible.
“Since last summer, we have been relentless in our focus to make sure unacceptable queuing does not return this year.
“Over the course of several weeks, we will be making a string of announcements, unveiling new projects and partnerships that will enhance the passenger experience during what will be our airport’s busiest year.”
The new lanes, found in Zone A, will be opened during peak times to accommodate passenger demands.
Birmingham Airport says it hopes that the government will again lift the 100ml liquid rule ahead of this summer, and hopes to see passengers able to travel with up to two litres of liquids in their cabin bag.
The airport said it has remained in close dialogue with the government over this.
After recording its busiest half-term week on record with 100,000 passengers flying out of its hub, the airport said the average wait for security was under eight minutes.
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