The one cabin-bag rule will be lifted at some of Britain’s busiest airports from Monday, including Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester, but remain in place elsewhere.
Leading airport operator BAA is still hoping to have the ban lifted at Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Airport chiefs have appealed for passengers to respect the continuing restrictions on liquids in hand luggage and on the size of bags, amid fears the partial relaxation will produce fresh queues.
Manchester Airport managing director Andrew Cornish warned: “We will have to screen more bags and would appeal to passengers to check the liquids rule. We need them to help us keep queues to a minimum.”
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly announced a relaxation of the rules before Christmas, providing airports convinced the Department for Transport they could cope without compromising security. The DfT said it would be up to airports to inform passengers of the rules.
The cabin-bag restriction will also be lifted at Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, London City, Cardiff, Prestwick and Southampton.