Manchester Airport will be ending a trial of body scanners, and commence testing on security scanners that are careful of people’s privacy.
The use of current body scanners is being replaced by five new security scanners, which will automatically process images of the passengers, inline with a new UK government policy. The new machines can scan passengers by using radio frequency-based millimetre wave technology, as against earlier scanners using low measure x-rays.
Andrew Harrison, the chief operating officer at Manchester Airport Group (MAG), the UK based holding company that owns the Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside Airports in the UK, said, ‘We’re baffled by this situation because health experts say they are safe plus the overwhelming majority of our passengers and security staff prefer body scanners to frisking and it’s frustrating that Brussels has allowed this successful trial to end.
Our security surveys and those run by the Department for Transport show passengers regularly rate their experience at Manchester as one of the best security processes in the UK if not Europe.
There’s no doubt that body scanners play a big part in these results. That’s why we are once again investing in new next generation scanner technology where the human examination of images is automated.’
The new security scanners will be installed in all three terminals and transfer lounges of the airport, and will be effective from October 1 2012, for a three month trial phase.
