Passengers will be required to remove liquids at Vilnius Airport terminal due to EU rules

VILNIUS - Equipment installed at Vilnius Airport's new passenger departure terminal, due to open in February, would allow passengers not to remove liquids during screening, but new EU regulations do not allow this, Simonas Bartkus, CEO of Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU), the airport operator in Lithuania, says.

"We are installing the latest hand luggage screening equipment at the new terminal, which basically allows us to do as you said (not to remove liquids from luggage - BNS). Unfortunately, the European Commission's regulation has changed since September 1, and the 100 ml liquids requirement remains the same for all airports, no matter which equipment they use," Bartkus told the public radio LRT on Monday. "We will be asking for liquids to be removed at the new terminal, unless the regulation changes before February."

According to Bartkus, the company will use next-generation scanners. The EU requires a single bottle of liquid to have up to 100 ml of liquid, so passengers will be required to remove such bottles to make sure they contain up to 100 ml. 

If the EU regulation changes, the airport will be ready to check baggage without the need to remove liquids, Bartkus said.

Meanwhile, he said, passengers will be allowed to keep computers and other electronic equipment in their luggage. "Computers, wires and other electronics will not have to be removed in preparation for air security screening," Bartkus pointed out.

The airport operator told BNS that Poland's Dimark won a 2022 tender for baggage scanning equipment and it is installing equipment made by German company Smiths Detection at Vilnius and Kaunas Airports for 5.8 million euros, excluding VAT. Vilnius Airport is installing 7 baggage screening lines and scanners, while Kaunas Airport has already installed and operates three more CT scanners.

On July 31 Brussels announced its decision to temporarily restrict the use of the new baggage screening technologies as a "precautionary measure" until "certain technical problems are solved".

As the new scanners are eight times more expensive with maintenance costs four times higher, so airports that have already invested in these new scanners will suffer heavy losses.