Irish Minister for Transport Martin Cullen is planning to initiate a discussion on the EU?s aviation security regulations at an important meeting of transport ministers from all 27 EU member states tomorrow.

Cullen hopes to talk on how these regulations are impacting transfer passengers travelling to and from European airports. Minister Cullen?s intervention comes as countries around the world continue to implement new liquids-in-hand baggage regulations – exacerbating the ?transfer passenger problem? that has seen thousands of tonnes of duty free liquids seized at EU airports.

Many of these new regulations do not recognise the security of liquids purchased at airport retail outlets in other countries or onboard non-EU airlines. As a result, many more air passengers transferring through airports worldwide face having their duty free liquids confiscated at security checkpoints.

On the eve of this meeting, ETRC President Frank O?Connell expressed his concerns as to how different liquids-in-hand baggage regulations in different countries will affect more air passengers in the coming summer season: ‘In the next three months, many passengers will take to the skies for their summer holidays. Unfortunately, many of these holiday makers, whether travelling to Europe or returning home through EU airports will have their duty free liquids confiscated. The transfer passenger problem will spoil many holiday makers? experiences and will hurt industry across Europe’ said O?Connell.

‘We need to move quickly and we hope that the Council will give clear direction to the European Commission as to how we need to move forward with solving the transfer passenger problem. It is clear that a global solution will not come any time soon. The EU must act now and unambiguous support from the Council for this action is needed,’ he added.

Cullen is hoping to make his intervention at the meeting which has been called primarily to sign off the new EU-US ‘open skies’ agreement. The very best the industry could hope for would be an instruction from the Council to ask the Commission to produce a proposal for speeding up bi-lateral recognition of security systems between the EU and non-EU airports.

This is the most logical way forward to solve the transit confiscation problem, a direction that was supported strongly recently by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in his meeting with ETRC President Frank O'Connell.