Liquid restrictions at airports are becoming a thing of the past. The responsible is the 3D

Boarding pass. Queue for the scanner. Get out the computer. Have you taken off your watch? And remember that you have the tablet in the inside pocket. Empty your pockets. The mobile, yes, I have again forgotten to leave the mobile on the tray. And the backpack that passes… and the backpack that is searched. What will happen now? What have I forgotten?

And what I forgot is the bottle of water. They pull me aside. They ask me about her. I confirm to the agents that they can throw it away. I’m in a hurry and I don’t want a pint of water to make me miss a plane. I can’t wait to end the tedious process of overcoming police checks at the airport.

Everything changes

Those of us who travel due to personal or work circumstances can hate few things more than going through police control at the airport. But what if everything changed? What if it was as simple as arriving with your backpack, leaving it on the scanner’s tape and meeting it on the other side? A tunnel for which we saw no exit and in which, however, a light already shines in the distance.

Mark Harper, UK Transport Secretary, has confirmed that as of June 2024 it will be possible to travel in its main airports without having to remove the largest electronic equipment from the backpack nor the liquids. According to him, the queues will be reduced, the user experience will be improved and, in addition, new threats will be detected.

This will be possible thanks to new 3D scanners, which they are already in tests at Stansted Airport in London. With these new tools, passengers will be able to travel with bottles of up to two liters of liquid, instead of the maximum of 100 milliliters in force until now. And they will not have to take their computer or tablet out of their backpacks either.

And the British airport is the latest to join a list that already includes Schipol airports in Amsterdam or Helsinki. These spaces already work without the obligation to remove the largest electronic elements and in the United States this technology is also being tested in 15 airports, including Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and Chicago.

The great novelty in these scanners is that project a 3D image of what is inside the backpack, discriminating the objects according to the materials used (highlighting the electronic elements) and, in addition, they will allow “navigating” inside thanks to a touch screen with which to change the angle of the three-dimensional image.

Photo | Anete Lusina