Airport and airline security

Use of body scanners at EU airports

At any EU airport, passengers may be screened by body scanners, either as the primary method of screening or as an additional method to resolve the cause of any alarms.

It is up to each EU country to decide whether to use these, but if a country has chosen this option it must comply with EU rules. If you are asked to undergo screening by such a scanner you should know, in particular, that:

• you must be given the possibility of opting out from a body scanner. In this case you will be screened by an alternative method including at least a hand search;
• you must be given full information on the technology used before you are screened;
• you can ask that the image of your body is analysed by a human reviewer of the gender of your choice;
• the human reviewer will be somewhere else and will not be able to see you;
• the image will be blurred so you cannot be identified and the images cannot be copied, stored or printed;
• only scanners which do not use ionizing radiation can be used.

Airlines banned within the EU

All airlines operating flights that begin or end in the EU must meet certain safety standards. Some airlines across the world operate in conditions below European safety levels and may therefore either:

• be banned from operating at all in European airspace
• be allowed to operate only under certain specific conditions

If you are concerned about aircraft safety, you can check the list of airlines banned within the EU.