REVERSAL OF HAND LUGGAGE RESTRICTIONS WELCOMED - BUT CONCERN OVER WIDER SECURITY MEASURES

BAA and Visit London today welcomed the government's confirmation that it is to reverse the decision to restrict airline carry-on hand luggage to one item.

The limit is to be lifted from January but security is to be stepped up at UK airports, railway stations and ports as part of anti-terrorism measures outlined by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Travellers will have to provide a range of information requested when they buy tickets as part of planned electronic checks.

Full details have yet to emerge but some reports suggested travel companies face a bill of £20 million a year compiling the information and this will be passed onto customers via higher prices.

Improved security is to be introduced at the 250 busiest railway stations as well as airports, ports and more than 100 other locations, with guidance going out to hotels, restaurants, sports arenas, cinemas and theatres.

Meanwhile, Brown said that airports would be able to seek permission from January 7 to allow passengers to take more than a single item of hand luggage onto flights. Size limits on liquids and cabin baggage will remain.

Transport secretary Ruth Kelly said: "I hope to see rapid progress across the whole country - with all airports submitting plans over the next few months.

"But some may need to enforce baggage restrictions to ensure that acceptable security standards are maintained throughout. Equally, some airlines may choose to keep bag restrictions for their own operational reasons.

"This is not about relaxing security. It's about allowing airports to take advantage of smarter technologies and improved processes to deliver a better service to the passenger."

A spokesperson for airports operator BAA said: "We welcome the announcement to relax the rules on a phased basis starting in the new year. We believe that this is a sensible approach which strikes the right balance between the needs of passengers and the legitimate demands of security."

Visit London had pressed ministers to reverse the hand luggage restrictions.

Visit London chief executive James Bidwell said: "We welcome the government's decision to reverse the restrictions on hand luggage for passengers.

"Whilst we accept that security must be the primary consideration for policy-makers, limiting baggage to one piece does not fit with the procedures of other airports across Europe and has placed London at a competitive disadvantage.

"In addition to passenger confusion, feedback from the capital's tourism industry was that the policy was detrimental to repeat trips and short-term business travellers were increasingly considering other European airport hubs to avoid London."

by Phil Davies

HAND BAGGAGE RESTRICTIONS 'TO BE LIFTED' - UPDATED

Limits on the amount of hand luggage taken on flights are to be lifted soon, British Airways predicted today.

The airline revealed a 26% rise in pre-tax profits to a record £593 million for the half year to September.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: "More good news for our customers will be the removal of restrictions on hand-baggage which we expect soon.

"This will go a long way to relieving the hassle factor of the one bag limit."

The airline continues to staff up to record levels and has improved its baggage performance despite a 15% increase in hold luggage.

BA said the weak dollar was helping reduce costs by £100 million over last year, while premium traffic remains strong.

Walsh, speaking to the BBC, said the cost of distribution had gone down through higher use of ba.com.

The airline revealed that further improvements to its online passenger carbon offset scheme will be announced in the coming weeks.

The airline is supporting moves for greater utilisation of the two runways at its Heathrow base, saying that the airport has no spare runway capacity - it operates on the same two runways it had when it opened 60 years ago.

"As a result the company is vulnerable to short-term operational disruption and there is little it can do to mitigate against this," BA admitted.

The government is expected to announce shortly a public consultation on full utilisation of the two runways and on the construction of a short third runway.

"This would create extra capacity and reduce delays. Ending stacking before landing and queuing on taxiways would cut Heathrow's CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes a year," BA said.

"An increase in runway capacity would create more take-off and landing slots ad enable Heathrow to rival European hubs like Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt."

BA has set a target of improving aircraft fuel efficiency by a quarter by 2025 and aims to recycle half of its wastes and phase out the use of landfill by 2010.

In other environmental efforts, nearly half of BA aircraft now taxi to the airport terminal with one engine shut down.

by Phil Davies