PASSENGERS travelling through Manchester Airport may soon feel the benefit of improvements to airport security thanks to new high-speed passenger baggage screening X-ray technology being trialled on site.

Testing has been taking place on an advanced security screening technology called Real Time Tomography, or RTT, since the end of 2008.

RTT, designed by Congleton-based firm Rapiscan Systems, is designed to generate extremely high-resolution 3-D X-ray images of passenger baggage at far higher speeds and greater reliability than any other technology currently available.

Mike Fazackerley, Customer Service Director for Manchester Airport, said: "The RTT has the potential to dramatically improve the security process.

"Safety and security aligned to customer service present major challenges to our business, yet with this major investment into our security process, we continue to reflect how important we place safety in our operations.

"The ongoing security issues in the UK present serious cost implications for our business. Any opportunity to invest in technology that enables us to meet security regulations, while making the passenger experience simpler, is something we're willing to experiment with and has been evidenced in this partnership."