{"id":388824,"date":"2026-01-25T00:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388824\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T00:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:21:09","slug":"heathrow-scraps-100-ml-liquids-rule-after-1-billion-ct-scanner-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388824\/","title":{"rendered":"Heathrow scraps 100-ml liquids rule after \u00a31 billion CT-scanner rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Business travellers flying from London Heathrow will no longer have to shuffle through security with plastic bags of miniature toiletries. On 23 January 2026 the UK\u2019s largest hub became the first major global airport to abolish the 100-millilitre limit on liquids, pastes and gels in cabin baggage after completing a \u00a31 billion upgrade to computed-tomography (CT) scanners across all four terminals. The equipment, which generates high-resolution 3-D images, allows security officers to detect explosives without requiring passengers to remove laptops or liquids from their hand luggage. Travellers can now carry containers of up to two litres. <\/p>\n

The 100-ml cap, imposed worldwide in 2006 after British police foiled a liquid-bomb plot, has long been blamed for security bottlenecks; Heathrow estimates that non-compliant liquids caused a quarter of all secondary bag searches last summer. By eliminating the rule, the airport expects to save 16 million single-use plastic bags annually and shave several minutes off average queuing times\u2014an important gain for time-sensitive premium passengers and connecting itineraries. Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye described the change as \u201cthe biggest improvement to the passenger experience in two decades.\u201d <\/p>\n

Travel coordinators looking for a one-stop compliance tool may find VisaHQ invaluable: its real-time portal for the United Kingdom (https:\/\/www.visahq.com\/united-kingdom\/<\/a>) aggregates visa, eTA and passport requirements and can send automated alerts about airport security updates such as Heathrow\u2019s new two-litre liquid allowance\u2014helping itinerant staff avoid surprises at either end of their journey. <\/p>\n

\"Heathrow<\/p>\n

Not every UK gateway is ready: Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Edinburgh have introduced CT lanes but many airports\u2014including Manchester and Stansted\u2014remain in phased installation, meaning the 100-ml rule still applies on the return leg of many trips. Corporate travel managers are therefore urging employees to verify rules at both ends of their journey and to brief colleagues arriving from jurisdictions that continue to enforce the limit. Airlines have welcomed the improved throughput but caution that early-morning peaks could still see queues as staff and passengers adapt to the new process. <\/p>\n

From a policy perspective, the milestone vindicates the Department for Transport\u2019s 2019 mandate that all UK airports deploy CT scanners, although deadlines slipped twice because of the pandemic and supply-chain shortages. Security consultants say the full benefit will only be realised when mutually recognised standards allow larger liquids at foreign airports\u2014something the International Civil Aviation Organization is now studying. In the meantime, Heathrow has published traveller guidance in 11 languages and is training 2,000 frontline staff to handle queries. <\/p>\n

For multinationals, the upgrade removes a lingering pain-point for short-haul day trips and accelerates the UK\u2019s broader move toward contactless borders, which also includes electronic travel authorisations and digital visas. Companies with high volumes of fly-in teams\u2014IT integrators, auditors and engineering crews\u2014should update their travel handbooks and encourage employees to keep liquids tightly packed to prevent leaks that could still trigger manual inspection.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business travellers flying from London Heathrow will no longer have to shuffle through security with plastic bags of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-388824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}