New security scanners coming early next year may shorten airport lineups like this one at Vancouver International, officials say. (CBC)

Canada's major airports will soon have new X-ray scanning gear for carry-on baggage that could speed up the trip through security and make it easier to spot potential threats, officials say.

The equipment, which will be in the airports by February, also holds the potential of relaxing blanket restrictions on carrying liquids aboard flights.

The Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority has given a $27 million contract to UK-based Smiths Detection to replace the company's single-view X-ray scanners with units that capture four views of each piece of luggage.

"This additional data that is created contributes to better decisions by our screening officers and obviously an improvement on the security at the checkpoint," Mathieu Larocque, the authority's communications officer, said from Ottawa.

In 8 airports by 2011

The new system is being installed this year in five Canadian airports: Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

Larocque said Canada's other three Class 1 airports — Calgary, Winnipeg and Ottawa — will get the units in the next fiscal year. There are no plans to upgrade the scanners at smaller regional airports, he said.

Scanners for checked baggage already use the technology, he added.

Vancouver International Airport, which is preparing for an influx of travellers for the Winter Olympics in February, recently finished a successful test run.

"We did a pilot in Vancouver with one unit and I believe other units are installed or being installed as we speak," Larocque said. "The Games played an important role in the pilot."

Views from more angles

Current scanners for carry-on luggage provide an image comparable to a medical X-ray, Cherif Rizkalla, Smiths' president of security and inspection, said from Montreal.

The new units, including a model capable of handling larger items such as strollers, will make two views available for the operator but use data from four views of the object.

A computer software algorithm automatically identifies threatening objects such as explosives and frames them in red on the screen.

Could reduce delays

The new system is more accurate than current scanners and should reduce delays caused by having to run bags through scanners more than once or pulling them aside for hand searches, Rizkalla said.

"It gives more tools to the operator to essentially make a quicker, more accurate decision, and that will help throughout."

Larocque was more cautious about whether the equipment will speed up the screening process.

"We're not quite sure yet but it has definitely the potential," he said. "Because screening officers will see the object at different angles, they will be able to make better decisions, which may indeed lead to more efficient and faster screening."

Rizkalla said the software can be updated to detect new threats as they emerge.

No liquid explosive detector yet

Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there had been little change in the kinds of threats being addressed, he said. Since then, security screenings have dealt with things such as shoe-borne and liquid explosives.

Although the new system is capable of detecting liquid explosives, this function isn't being actively used yet, Larocque said.

"We're not using it in the deployment right now because we're still testing it," he said.

Larocque stressed that any decision to ease restrictions on carry-on liquids would only come if there's a consensus with the security authority's counterparts in the United States and the European Community, where the new scanning equipment is already in use.