Passengers using Bristol Airport will be able to leave mobile phones, laptops and liquids in their hand luggage from next month thanks to a £11.5m in next-generation security scanners.
The airport will be one of the first in the UK to meet a government deadline to have the new equipment in place by June, which will also end the restrictions on toiletries and liquids to 100ml bottles. 
The 100ml liquid rule was introduced in 2006 after an attempted largescale terrorist attack was foiled by British police.
The group had tried to smuggle hydrogen peroxide in 500ml drinks bottles onto as many as 10 aircraft, ahead of turning them into bombs mid-flight.
Since then, departing passengers at UK airports have had to put transparent 100ml bottles and toiletries into closed transparent bags at airport security.
Last year, the Department of Transport brought in a deadline of June this year for all airports to have new CT scanners in place.
However, only London city, Teesside and Aberdeen International have so far gone live. Birmingham International is expected to follow this weekend as the largest so far.
Bristol will switch over to its new scanners on June 14, a move that will also mean passengers will no longer have to remove tablets and mobile phones from their hand luggage as they pass through security screening. 
The airport, which two weeks ago announced it had handled a record 10m passengers over the past 12 month, said due to outstanding aviation rules beyond its control, liquids over 330ml cannot be carried in hand luggage.
Bristol Airport chief operating officer Graeme Gamble said the new equipment would reduce stress and inconvenience for passengers and delivers a much more customer-friendly security operation.
“Using the latest technology and providing enhanced screening, it will allow customers to keep personal items in their hand luggage,” he added.
“We’ve invested more than £11.5m in the security equipment enhancements and, as with all complex and largescale projects in a 24-hours, seven-day-a-week operation, we needed to have a phased approach to the introduction of the new equipment and processes.”
Current hand luggage restrictions remain in place at the airport until 14 June. The Fast Track security channels are also being updated.
The investment in the new security scanners is part of a total of £400m being spent on the airport over the next five years by Canadian owner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan as it increases capacity to 12m passengers a year.
Other areas for improvement include a new public transport interchange, an additional multi-storey car park and new retail and catering areas.
