Laptop trials end at major airports

Laptop trials that were being carried out at two of the UK’s major airports have now ended, and officials will be evaluating the results.

Recently two major airports in the UK were involved in trials involving laptops, whereby passengers passing through the airports were allowed to leave their laptops in their bags rather then removing them when going through security, as per regulations set by the EU. The two airports involved in the laptop security trials, which lasted for eighteen months in total, were Heathrow Airport and Glasgow Airport.

The two airports were given permission by the EU to conduct the trials, and rather than have passengers waste time and go to the hassle of removing laptops from bags the airport used sophisticated scanners to view the inside of the bags as part of their security measures. However, the trial has now finished and the results will be looked at, but until then EU regulations will have to be followed and laptops will have to be removed from bags again.

One official stated: “Current EU law requires that all laptops be removed from bags at airport screening points. For the past 18 months the UK has been – with permission from the EU – carrying out a limited technology trial at two airports where laptops were permitted to remain in bags at screening points. The trial has now finished and the results will be evaluated. The UK was among the EU leaders to take the initiative to carry out these trials. We will continue to work with industry partners and the EU in order to evaluate any new technologies.”

BAA, which owns the two airports that took part in the trials, said: “Passengers carrying laptops as cabin baggage are now required to remove them from bags for security screening…Passengers are being informed of the requirement before arriving at security areas across the airports.”