Airport Security Checks – The Weak Link

Airport Security Checks – The Weak Link

airport security scanning

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One of the weak points in airports now with the COVID-19 pandemic is the trays used in the passenger security lanes. Several technological solutions have been applied recently in various airports in order to disinfect the trays and secure passengers’ health. 

Gatwick airport in London has begun rolling out UV technology. The airport trialled the ‘UV tunnel’ at one security lane in July, and is in the process of rolling it out to a total of eight lanes (six for passengers and two for staff) by the end of this month.

Provided by Smiths Detection, the technology sees security trays pass through a covered UV tunnel fixed underneath the existing hand luggage screening system.

Gatwick says it is the first airport in the UK to treat its security trays “with enough UV light energy to guarantee a 99.9 percent microbe disinfection rate – protecting passengers and staff and reducing the spread of coronaviruses, including Covid-19, and other infections on this high-touch surface area”.

The system uses short-wavelength UV-C light, “which laboratory tests show is effective against coronaviruses, including Covid-19 and SARS, as the radiation warps the structure of their genetic material and prevents the viral particles from replicating”.

The technology has also been trialled at Seoul’s Incheon International airport. Edinburgh airport recently introduced new security trays with built-in antimicrobial technology, and Delta is rolling out similar technology at its airports including Atlanta, Minneapolis St Paul, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia and New York JFK, according to businesstraveller.com.