A BAN on knitting needles, nail scissors and metal cutlery introduced on British flights in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks is to be relaxed.

Ministers have sanctioned the move because they believe improvements to in-flight security, such as reinforced cockpit doors and the deployment of armed sky marshals, mean the objects are unlikely to pose a risk in the hands of a would-be hijacker.

Since sharp objects were barred from hand luggage in 2001, millions of travellers have been inconvenienced by having household items such as nail scissors and knitting needles confiscated before departure. Critics believe the clampdown has been overzealous and has led to lengthening queues at British airport check-ins and security barriers.

Passengers have also had to try to eat their meals with flimsy plastic knives and forks. Many other countries, however, have already lifted bans on the use of metal cutlery and revised their lists of prohibited items.

“We are always looking at striking a sensible balance between the robust protection that we have in place and convenience for the travelling public,” said a Department for Transport spokesman last night. “We wouldn’t make these changes if we felt they undermined our security regime and they will now be in line with practices in most overseas states.”

The relaxation of rules will come into effect on April 25. Although any kind of knitting needle will be permitted in hand luggage, only scissors with a maximum blade length of 3cm will be allowed on board aircraft. This raises the prospect of airport officials having to measure items with a ruler, potentially adding to delays. The ban will also be partly lifted on nail files and tweezers — security staff will still be able to confiscate these if they consider them dangerous.

Airlines planning to reintroduce metal cutlery will have to adhere to strict guidelines stipulating the length and sharpness of utensils. Passengers will still not be allowed to bring their own metal cutlery on board.

Other dangerous objects on the banned list — including penknives, sports bats and hypodermic syringes — remain prohibited from the cabin.

British Airways (BA) has been pressing the government for change for some time. Two years ago the airline reportedly developed “safe” metal knives and forks in consultation with the Department for Transport, but plans for their use were shelved when it was discovered that they were too blunt to cut through food.

“I think British airlines are the only ones still using plastic cutlery — it’s ridiculous,” said Michael Winner, the film director and Sunday Times food critic. “I was recently on a BA flight from Barbados and the stewardess told me they had had a prison governor on board who said even in prison they give them (inmates) metal cutlery.

“Nobody can seriously believe that a rather dull metal knife or fork is going to cause the plane to be hijacked. The food on the whole is not worth eating, but it would be nice to have proper implements we can reject it with.”

Sharp objects that could be used as weapons were banned from aircraft cabins across the world after it emerged that the September 11 hijackers, led by Mohammed Atta, smuggled box-cutters — similar to Stanley knives — onto planes that they crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. In Britain the government blacklisted certain items, such as knitting needles and corkscrews, which even the American authorities have not prohibited.

“We jumped on the bandwagon and banned an awful lot of things that we shouldn’t necessarily have banned,” said Chris Yates, aviation security editor at Jane’s Transport magazine. “Ministers introduced a quick fix at very short notice just to convince the public that something was being done.”

Less than a year after the September 11 atrocities, BAA, Britain’s largest airport operator, said it was confiscating 15,000 sharp objects a day from hand luggage at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Other security measures include reinforced cockpit doors. These must be kept locked throughout a flight and can be monitored by CCTV cameras. They are now standard on all British airlines.

Ban to be lifted on
Knitting needles
Nail scissors
Nail files*
Tweezers*
*At discretion of airport security

Still banned
Darts
Hypodermic needles
Corkscrews
Knives

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