Brussels, 24/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Meeting at the European Security Forum, representatives of the aeronautics sector, industry, airports, the European Commission and the European Parliament said as one that it was time to speed up the setting in place of technology to facilitate security checks, especially in airports, and to thus lift restrictions imposed on hand luggage on board aircraft. Bound by the letter from Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani, who pledged before the European Parliament to waive restrictions on the transport of liquid in hand luggage by April 2010, the European Commission plans to present concrete proposals by the end of the year to make the introduction of high-tech scanning technology in all Community airports compulsory. The introduction of such technology would be gradual and would first of all concern the largest airports. Speaking during the Forum, Smiths Executive Director Philipp Bowman made the same request, mainly addressing national governments. He said there is already a “kit” - developed partly by his group - which can, for example, scan portable computers without having to take them out of the luggage during airport security checks. “Lifting restrictions on portable computers could be an easy way to improve the life of passengers and probably reduce queues by half at security checks”, Mr Bowman said. This is all the more relevant as, according to Global Aviation Solutions Director Andrew Whittaker, who also took the floor during the forum, airport capacity will soon be too low to handle all passenger traffic each year without difficulty (according to estimates made by the International Airport Council, in the next ten years the number of air passengers should reach 6 billion, while airport capacity would only be 6 billion). European Organisation for Security (EOS) Executive Director Luigi Rebuffi called for a European Air Transportation Security Programme, which would allow the development of joint methods by bringing all stakeholders together (airports and airlines, industry, member states and the European Commission). In his view, the future legislation should be more consistent and based on a sound assessment of the threat, and European government in this field should be strengthened. He was also severely critical of the European Parliament for having compelled the Commission, last November, to withdraw the draft regulation authorising the introduction of body scanners in airports (see EUROPE 9787). On the industry side, scanner systems produced by Smiths Detection allow the detection of dangerous liquid substances at two levels (first of all the detection of liquid in luggage, and then the examination of liquid substances carried - as well as, at the same time, the possibility of detecting dangerous substances). Some 700 detectors of this kind are already operational in the United States and the United Kingdom, but are still not admitted on the rest of the European continent. According to the company, it will still take at least three years for the industry to come up with a system to detect dangerous liquid substances in one go, without having to take the liquid out of the luggage. (A.By./transl.jl)