Passengers at Malta International Airport (MIA) will no longer be required to separate liquids and electronics from the rest of their baggage after it was announced the airport had completed its rollout of six new 3D security scanners.
The new scanners feature technology which provides airport security staff with 3D images and more detailed information than previous models, removing the requirement to separate such items.
The completion was announced on the airport’s Facebook page on Friday, with MIA CEO Alan Borg calling the move a “leap forward for our airport, both in terms of passenger safety and efficiency” in a separate statement.
Each scanner – also known as C3 scanners – cost around €500,000, representing a total investment of around €3 million.
While the new machines originally also removed the cap on the volume of liquid allowed through security, the airport was forced to backtrack on the relaxed rules in response to a new European Commission (EC) regulation in August reinforcing the 100ml restriction.
Quizzed in June on whether the EC ruling meant MIA’s investment had been a waste of money, Borg said it had not, indicating he believed the Commission would later relax the rule and stressing the machines had halved the time to go through security.
According to MIA earlier this year, Malta is one of the earliest countries in Europe to adopt the new C3 scanners, with only a handful of other countries having either introduced it or have plans to do so.
The machines allow staff to view and manipulate 3D images of scanned items and can provide information about liquids while automatically determining if they constitute a threat.
Their introduction means passengers will no longer need to remove laptops, tablets and toiletries – something likely to come as good news to the estimated 29,000 passengers expected to pass through MIA in the next 10 days, according to airport figures released Friday.
Almost 230,000 passengers expected over Christmas
In a statement, the airport said that between Saturday December 21 and New Year’s Eve, around 229,000 passengers were expected to pass through the building.
The busiest days are expected to be December 27, 28 and 29, with between 24,300 and 27,800 passengers anticipated each day, the airport said.
The airport also announced several hospitality measures on offer over the festive season.