Hand luggage clampdown in NZ

[MotherBear]

Air travellers face curbs on water, creams
Saturday December 9, 2006
By Mathew Dearnaley

Almost a million New Zealanders travelling to Australia each year will face tough restrictions on liquids carried in hand luggage.

The proposed clampdown, to take effect from April, is in line with an International Civil Aviation Organisation recommendation in response to a terror alert in Britain in August, and may be matched by similar measures in New Zealand.

Although transport officials believe the Australian regulations will mirror those imposed by the European Union some weeks ago, those apply only to passengers flying to Europe and then making connections to other overseas destinations such as the United States.

Australian Transport Minister Mark Vaile said yesterday all international travellers to and from Australia after March 31 with any liquids, aerosols or gels would have to carry them in containers no bigger than 100ml.

These would in turn have to be held by each passenger in a one-litre clear plastic bag to be screened independently of other hand luggage, although new regulations would not apply to liquids in checked-in cases carried in aircraft holds.

That is more generous than a European limit of just 500ml of liquid for each passenger making a connecting flight to a third country.

The Australian move, which New Zealand Government officials are keen to receive more detailed information on, follows Britain's arrest of terror suspects accused of plotting to blow up airliners with liquid explosives smuggled aboard in hand luggage.

Mr Vaile said exceptions would be made for passengers who needed particular medicines or baby-food or milk during flights, but these would still have to be screened before being allowed on board.

Ministry of Transport safety and security group manager Brian Johnson said his Australian counterpart phoned him yesterday and had promised more details once these were determined.

Mr Johnson said the ministry would meet the Civil Aviation Authority and the Aviation Security Service next week to decide whether to recommend to the Government that New Zealand take similar action for the sake of international consistency.

Given the ICAO recommendation, and restrictions on liquids carried on flights to the US and Europe, he believed the question of action by New Zealand would probably be "not a matter of if but when". More than 940,000 New Zealanders visited Australia last year.

Mr Johnson said Australia's imposition of new regulations, as well as those in the US and Europe, would mean restrictions on liquids carried on up to 70 per cent of flights out of New Zealand.

He understood Australia would exempt duty-free liquor bought within bonded areas of airports, past border controls, but that had yet to be confirmed.

That is also the understanding of Melbourne Airport, which yesterday welcomed the proposal, but called on the Australian Government to push other countries to adopt similar measures to ensure consistency and less confusion for international travellers.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the airline had yet to receive details, so could not predict whether it would have to bring forward check-in times at airports.

But Flight Centre travel agency spokesman John McGuinness said passengers should expect some small delays, and possible embarrassment, until the restrictions became universally well known.

He said a litre was not a large volume of liquid and airlines would have to be more generous in supplying water to passengers unable to take drinking bottles on board.

Mr McGuinness expected most passengers would be tolerant of the need for restrictions to preserve aviation safety against terror threats.

But another travel industry official said although most passengers were "in this day and age quite resilient", some were becoming frustrated with the level of security checks in the US and were asking for flights to Europe via Asia to reduce such "hassles".

- Additional reporting AAP