One-bag rule still applies in Northern Ireland
05.01.08
Air passengers in Northern Ireland will only be allowed to carry one bag onboard flights from Monday (7 January), despite the rule been relaxed at over 20 UK airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow.
Since a tightening of security in August 2006 following the transatlantic liquid bomb plot, passengers at UK airports have been restricted to one piece of hand luggage. But the one-bag rule will be lifted at 22 airports, including Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Cardiff from today.
However, a number of airports including Belfast International, Belfast City and Derry Airports plus Gatwick, Luton, Leeds Bradford and Durham Tees Valley in the UK have yet to satisfy the Department for Transport (DfT) that they can cope with the change without compromising security (and increasing queues).
These airports will all retain the one hand baggage limit, at least in the short term. However, the Department for Transport has set May as a target date for introducing the two bags rule at all UK airports, giving the Northern Irish airports just a few months to put processes in place.
Belfast International Airport spokeswoman Debra Matchett said: 'It is a rolling programme that some airports will be able to implement fairly quickly, at others it will take time to get extra machines. We are currently reconfiguring our central search security area.'
Size limits on liquids and cabin baggage will still apply and some airlines, including Ryanair and easyJet, have announced that they will retain the one-bag rule even at airports with the okay for two bags.
Each airport is being individually approved by the Government, and the list of approved airports is detailed on http://www.DfT.gov.uk/transportforyou/airtravel/airportsecurity/cabinbaggage.
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