Bag rummaging and safety faffing be gone – for Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, has lastly scrapped the 100ml rule.
The airport rule, launched in August 2006 following issues over liquid explosives, has come to an finish at the London airport following the completion of a one-billion-pound expertise improve set to ship the quickest, smoothest safety expertise to date.
Until Friday 23 January 2026, a majority of jetsetters had been pressured to type their liquids into clear plastic baggage on strategy to Heathrow’s safety scanners and take away digital gear from hand baggage. However, each could now stay in baggage except flagged by safety workers.
The change comes as the rollout of next-generation CT safety scanners has completed, promising quicker queues, much less stress and a smoother begin to journeys by way of the airport, which dealt with 84.5 million passengers in 2025.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye stated, “Every Heathrow passenger can now depart their liquids and laptops of their baggage at safety as we grow to be the largest airport in the world to roll out the newest safety scanning expertise. That means much less time making ready for safety and extra time having fun with their journey – and tens of millions fewer single-use plastic baggage. This billion-pound funding means our prospects may be assured they are going to proceed to have a terrific expertise at Heathrow.”
The rule change is set to usher passengers through checkpoints more quickly by allowing CT scanners to provide better images of cabin baggage and by saving almost 16 million plastic bags per year. It comes as Heathrow Airport was crowned Europe’s most punctual hub airport in 2025, with over 97 per cent of passengers waiting less than five minutes for security.
More international destinations are open to travellers than ever before via the bustling aviation hub, thanks to a flurry of newly-announced routes. New destinations include the American city of St Louis, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, daily flights to the southern Spanish city of Seville, and direct flights to Thailand’s largest island, Phuket.