Liquid misery for EU flyers extended

(BRUSSELS) - Face cream, water or wine, it makes no difference -- European airport security will confiscate liquids for years to come, because the development of scanning technology seeking explosives is way behind schedule.

Progress towards a genuine scientific breakthrough allowing the efficient processing of millions of passengers basically remains the stuff of science fiction, the European Commission admits.

A document to be given to EU transport ministers meeting Friday in Brussels warns its development "has been much slower than anticipated" and recommends pushing back the target April 2010 date for lifting the restrictions.

European restrictions were imposed in November 2006 in the wake of plot to blow up transatlantic jets uncovered by British authorities.

Since then, creams, hair gels, pressurised containers and mascara, for example, must be taken on board in a transparent resealable plastic bag, though larger quantities of liquids can be carried in checked-in luggage.

Medicine and baby foods are exempt, as are drinks and perfumes bought airside before boarding.

The rules apply at any airport within the 27-member European Union, plus Albania, Iceland, Kosovo, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine, irrespective of the destination.

Three Britons were jailed for life last month for the foiled 2006 plot and another three alleged Islamist extremists went on trial this week accused of conspiracy.

Regardless of the outcome of the new case, for most non-hub airports, passengers still will not be able to take on-board a bottle of whisky, unless bought at airport duty-free shops, for at least another five years.

Even the biggest airports, those with an annual throughput of 10 million flyers or more, won't be able to begin relaxing restrictions until 2012.

The commission paper says transfer passengers from non-EU countries should be allowed to carry liquids bought airside onto internal flights from April 2010, but only "under certain conditions."

These are so vague that the trade body for European airports says the phased approach suggested will only "result in added confusion" and more of those bewildered and angry exchanges frustrated passengers and security staff are so used to.

Travellers carrying liquids bought duty-free in EU candidate Croatia and Singapore are already exempted, after their airport security systems met EU standards.

But things have been particularly complicated for those arriving from outside the EU, where passengers able to board a plane in New York, for example, with larger bottles in their bags, have still faced having them confiscated on arrival.

In the United States, some 875 X-ray machines are at work in 78 airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration, but officials admit that alarms still go off far too often when innocuous liquids pass through.

And even with huge research funding, developers reckon at least another 12-18 months of work is required on the complex algorithms needed to distinguish reliably between, say, nail varnish and nitroglycerine.

The target date stretches much further onto the horizon if there are to be scanners that can complete the job without travellers having to empty their hand luggage.

Transport Council of Ministers