Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is expected to today announce a revision to a security measure in place across the UK airport network.

The limit on hand luggage has been blamed for causing severe delays this summer. It was introduced in August 2006, after a plot to smuggle liquids on board up to 10 airliners was discovered.

Initially, restrictions were imposed demanding all hand luggage be checked in, with travel documents and passports the only items permitted on board. As a consequence, huge numbers of flights were cancelled, at huge cost. Shortly after this, the present rule was brought in, which essentially restricts outbound passengers to a single item of hand luggage. Within this, a limit is also in place in respect of the gels and liquids allowed through airport security.

Single Item Limit to End - Two Pieces of Hand Luggage Permitted from 2008

Ms Kelly is due to make a speech to the Airport Operators Association. During this, it is anticipated that she will announce that the single item limit will end in 2008, meaning passengers will be permitted to carry two items on board. The controls over liquids, however, will likely remain enforced.

Hand Luggage Limit Criticised Far and Wide

Influential figures within the airline industry, as well as passengers themselves, have been severe in their attack on the single luggage item limit - criticism that has intensified in respect of the lengthy delays at London Heathrow Airport.

The Chief Executive of British Airways, Willie Walsh, famously described the rule as having "no security justification" and as having become "intensely irritating to customers." He added that it was impacting negatively on "the UK's reputation around the world from a business perspective".

In October, Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, echoed these sentiments by highlighting how the security-created delays were turning Heathrow into "...a national embarrassment".

Airport International will continue to provide unrivalled coverage of the very latest news concerning the UK airport hand luggage limit as we get the facts.

Source - Airport International's London Reporter

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