Bahrain could be set to lift a ban on airport passengers carrying liquids in their hand luggage, it has emerged.

Bahrain International Airport (BIA) director Mohammed Tamer Al Ka'abi said it would happen as soon as officials got the all-clear from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

He said there were reports of a dialogue between various parties around the world with the aim of lifting the ban, which came into force in 2006.

'We are aware of the discussions but will not be taking any action on our own,' Al Ka'abi told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

'This is for the ICAO to decide. Our decision will be taken in consultation with them.

'If they decide the ban has to be lifted, it shall be done in Bahrain as well.'

However, Al Ka'abi said technology now being developed meant there would be better screening of hand luggage, particularly with regard to liquids.

When implemented, it would enable passengers to carry liquids onto planes as before, he said.

'That is still some time away and we shall get it when it becomes available,' said Al Ka'abi.

Reacting to a report that the ban is to be lifted for airports that handle more than 10 million passengers a year, Al Ka'abi said the number of passengers at an airport was not a yardstick for the ban.

'This is purely a security measure and has nothing to do with passenger numbers,' he said.

The ban was imposed worldwide following the discovery of a terror plot to destroy aircraft flying between the UK and US using explosive liquids carried in hand luggage in August 2006.

It was initially meant to be in place for a three-year period.

The ban was envisaged as a temporary restriction that could be lifted when technology to screen liquids became available.-TradeArabia News Service