What's causing the queues at Birmingham Airport?

Huge queues formed at Birmingham Airport again on Monday amid apparent confusion about the 100ml liquid rule.

Photos and videos shared on social media showed a long line snaking through the car park and terminal in the morning, with some travellers reporting it took several hours to clear security.

One X user wrote: "... best advice is to avoid Birmingham airport. This is the departures queue. Unacceptable."

Pictures taken on Friday morning showed hundreds of passengers queuing outside the airport due to security check delays.

Some passengers described "chaotic" scenes outside the airport at 4am, while others said the huge lines were "embarrassing".

The airport claimed the efficiency of its scanning machines had been affected by a "regulatory" issue as well as further confusion about the rule which prevents liquids over 100ml from going in hand luggage.

Officials confirmed they had recruited 100 staff members, said to be in place by Friday, to deal with the fall-out over a sudden UK liquid rule change.

Here, Yahoo News UK explains the 100ml rule and what could be causing the queues.

What has happened with the 100ml rule?

Airport security restrictions for liquids, gels and pastes in hand luggage were introduced in 2006 after a foiled terror plot to blow up planes flying from London to the US with homemade liquid bombs.

Travellers failing to adhere to them have since become one of the biggest causes of delays at airport security checks.

In August 2019, then-prime minister Boris Johnson set a deadline of December 2022 for major airports to deploy new scanners which produce more detailed images, meaning passengers would be allowed to pass through airport security with containers holding up to two litres of liquid in their hand luggage.

However, after the aviation industry suffered huge disruption due to COVID travel restrictions, in December 2022 transport secretary Mark Harper set a new date of 1 June this year for the new technology to be implemented.

In April, amid several large airports’ struggles to install the scanners, known as next-generation security checkpoints, Harper once again extended the deadline, this time by another 12 months.

However, six smaller airports - London City, Teesside, Newcastle, Leeds-Bradford, Aberdeen and Southend - had already complied on time and were able to drop the old liquid rules as a result.

But last Friday, the Department for Transport (DfT) unexpectedly announced that from Sunday the old 100ml rule would be reinstated.

Harper said: “We've reintroduced that rule while updates and changes are made to the scanning equipment at airports to make sure we can continue delivering our world-leading levels of aviation security”.

But why has this affected Birmingham Airport?

Birmingham, like the six airports listed above, had actually met the deadline to get the new screening machines in place.

However, "outstanding regulatory approval" meant they have been "limited" in their functioning - and the 100ml limit has remained.

But even though nothing has changed, passengers have experienced queues at the airport since last weekend.

Nick Barton, CEO of the airport, told Yahoo News UK: “The problem we have is we were ready to go using this [new screening] system but we don’t have a plan B, we can’t go back to our old system.

"We have to use the new system which is now constrained by government directive until the software checks they are doing are completed. In the meantime, that means our machines are not as efficient or quick as they were designed to be.

“In the peaks we are getting queues, usually first thing in the morning. They are far longer than we’d want but everyone’s getting their flights. For a lot of the day we can measure the security queue in seconds."

Asked how long the queues could last for, Barton didn't answer but said the airport was "putting in mitigations" such as extra staff to ensure compliance with the 100ml rule.

Barton previously said: "We continually have non-compliant bags with liquids over the allowance which have led to inefficiencies of our equipment and resulted in extended queuing time for customers.

“It is now imperative that all customers comply with the nationwide rule to ensure a smoother and simpler transition through the airport. A non-compliant bag with liquids over 100ml can add up to 20 minutes to each passenger's journey through security."

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He also told the BBC this week that one in six passengers have not been following the rules, causing delays.

However, Rob Burgess, editor of travel website Head for Points, questioned this, telling the "i" that the queues are likely related to £300m construction work at the airport.

“In reality, the delays are primarily due to the major construction work taking place at the airport coinciding with the first wave of summer holiday traffic. It’s difficult to see it improving whilst the construction is ongoing.”

Read more

• When will the 100ml airport liquids limit be banished from UK airports? (The Telegraph)

• Passenger gets banned from flight for using viral packing trick (The Independent)

• Should there be a bank holiday if England or Scotland win the Euros? What Yahoo readers think (Yahoo News UK)