MANCHESTER Airport will be the first in Europe to stop searching passengers by hand, with the extension of a trial for new body scanners.
It started trying out the controversial security procedure in October, which takes “naked”
images of passengers.
In February, the scans became compulsory, with anyone selected for one and refusing being unable to fly. Now, airport bosses have secured an agreement with the European Commission to trial the scanners for a further 12 months in Terminal 2 without a hand search, which until now was still part of the process.
The airport wants to improve the experience of passengers, who will no longer need to remove items like shoes and coats, and increase security. There is also a new SMART lane layout in the terminal to ease the flow of people through the procedure.
Sarah Barrett, head of customer experience, said: “The decision gives us an opportunity to improve our security procedure for the benefit of our customers, which is exactly why we began using the scanner back in October.
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