After a trial period was declared a success, German police have authorised the permanent use of full-body, walk-through scanners at Frankfurt Airport.

New scanners should reduce waiting times at German airport

Walk-through, full-body scanners will now be in operation permanently at Frankfurt Airport, after a year-long trial period was deemed successful. The walk-through scanners were first trialled at Concourse A in Terminal 1 but will now be rolled out across all security areas in the airport, starting with Terminal 3. Employees at the airport hope that widespread use of the new scanners will cut waiting times at security.

Different from full-body scanners which require passengers to stop, turn to the side, stand with their legs slightly apart and raise their arms, the new scanners allow passengers to simply walk through the machine at a normal pace. If the scanner detects that a passenger may be concealing a dangerous object, it can pinpoint a specific area on the body for security staff to search.

Passengers can opt out of using the scanners in EU airports

When full-body scanners were first introduced to airports across Europe, there were some privacy concerns due to the fact that the scanners allowed security staff to see passengers "naked".

Many scanners nowadays therefore add a "privacy filter" that simply shows the security officer a generic human outline with either an all clear signal, or a warning signal over the area where something has been detected. 

However, passengers travelling from EU airports which use full-body scanners can also refuse to walk through. Instead, they can walk through a less advanced body scanner or opt to be searched manually.

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