2 weeks Ago By Alastair Dalton
All passengers at Scotland’s busiest airport should be going through new 3D scanners by Christmas, as chiefs said the technology was enabling them to clear security faster than anywhere else. Confirmation of the timeline came as Edinburgh Airport said it had cut complaints about late-arriving bags by speeding up their delivery to passengers despite handling the same number as last year. Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said three new scanners were in operation, which would increase to four or five by Christmas.
The first was introduced in April . He told the airport’s consultative committee , which scrutinises its operations, the technology was also “performing ahead of expectations [in passenger flow] - and we had quite high expectations”. Mr Dewar said: “I don’t think we’ve seen anybody that’s managing to get the same throughput.
” However, he said it was not known when the restrictions on liquids in hand luggage would be lifted again after the previous 100ml limit was re-imposed by the UK government in June. Mr Dewar said: “It’s still utterly uncertain when we’ll be able to go back to the 1-2 litre restriction as opposed to 100ml. “The hope is the government is going to give the tech providers new test regimes that will allow them to re-declare that they are ready to go back to either one or two litres, and allow each site [airport] to follow through on that.
” Mr Dewar said the lower limit meant more bags were having to be manually searched . He said: “The one problem with 100ml is the reject rate is slightly higher than we’d like because you have got so many items that are borderline - [such as] is it 100ml or 120ml? - and it’s hard to tell. “If you had a one or two-litre limit, the number of things that would be borderline would be much, much lower, so the reject rate would go down.
” Transport is the KEY issue facing Scotland - get Alastair Dalton’s newsletter to stay informed Meanwhile, officials said delayed luggage complaints had been reduced by bags being sent on to passengers within a day of arrival. This has been achieved thanks to a dedicated new airport team assisting airline handling agents such as Swissport and Menzies Aviation, which are responsible for baggage, the scrapping of paper lost luggage forms, which can contain “illegible scribbles”, and a baggage holding area that has replaced bags being piled in corridors . Gordon Robertson, the airport’s chief communications and sustainability officer, said: “Because of the investments in baggage repatriation and the handling agents raising their game , we haven’t seen the same volume of complaints.
“That’s not to say the issue has been completely solved. However, we as an airport and the handling agents are dealing with it a lot better.” Mr Dewar said: “We have exactly the same number of disconnected bags arriving at the airport as we did last year, which is way, way up on what we saw pre-Covid.
The source of the problems seems to be the major hubs around Europe, but not one bag stayed in Edinburgh Airport longer than 24 hours. “That’s still people upset they’ve not had their bag when they’ve arrived, but at least they are getting it within 24-36 hours.” Scottish Conservative transport spokesperson Sue Webber said: “Any measure that enables passengers to clear security faster is greatly welcomed.
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