The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced plans to expand testing of a new carry-on bag screening technology that it says could detect the kinds of materials that caused it to issue a ban on liquids and powders earlier this year.
On Monday, the TSA said it plans to have up to 40 units in place at 15 US airports by the end of this year, with plans for another 100 or so more by the end of the government’s fiscal year 2019. The new checkpoint technology is expected to result in fewer bag checks. In the future, the agency said, “passengers may also be able to leave laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags.”
The computed tomography scanners (CT) utilise 3-D technology similar to the kind doctors use to view and rotate images of the human body.
The TSA said that over the next few months, the following U.S. airports will receive scanners: Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Indianapolis International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, San Diego International Airport, St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and Washington-Dulles International Airport.