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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Kraków Airport has become the first in Poland to scrap rules limiting passengers to carrying liquids in containers of up to 100ml in hand luggage. Thanks to new scanning machines, passengers will also no longer have to remove liquids and electronics from their bags during security checks.
“Starting from today, you can carry liquids in containers of up to two litres” and pass through security “without removing electronics and cosmetics” from hand luggage, announced the airport, which is Poland’s second busiest, on Wednesday morning.
Ten newly installed CT scanners will instead “digitally unpack” bags by creating a detailed 3D image. The airport estimates that this will reduce the time required to screen passengers by 30%, meaning that, even on the busiest days, most will wait no longer than ten minutes.
The 100ml limit for individual liquid containers being carried in hand luggage began to be introduced in various countries in 2006, in response to a foiled terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives on airliners flying from the UK to Canada and the US.
In recent years, some airports have begun to scrap the rule, as better detection systems become available. However, in the summer of 2024, the European Union re-imposed the requirement due to what it said was a “temporary technical issue”.
In July this year, the European Commission announced that it had approved the end of the 100ml rule for airports that introduce advanced CT scanners. The UK and US have already introduced similar measures.
In what has unofficially been declared a record, a plane was forced to circle Kraków airport 27 times due to fog before giving up and returning to Katowice.
The weather caused chaos for travellers yesterday, with 88 flights cancelled at Kraków https://t.co/K7ousFtVud
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 30, 2024
A record 11.1 million passengers passed through Kraków Airport last year, a figure surpassed in Poland only by Warsaw Chopin Airport, which had 21.3 million passengers.
Earlier this week, Kraków Airport reported that its number of passengers in August, 1.3 million, was the most it had ever recorded in a single month. By the end of this year, it expects to also set a new annual record of around 13 million.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Krakow Airport/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
