It’s the question repeatedly asked to Birmingham Airport by BirminghamLive readers; Will the escalators return? The terminal’s escalators were removed last year during ongoing work to complete the ‘state-of-the-art’ security hall.

The £60 million ‘next generation’ security hall will see new scanners that “run like a highway”, search checkpoints and brand new fluid rules. However, the airport told us that despite investing millions in their brand new security hall, they are unable to use it to its full potential due to a UK government directive on liquids and the fact that they still need to free up more ground space.

As it stands now, at busy times customers have to queue to get into the lifts that take them to the security zone. The biggest question from travelers, addressed to the airport and to our reporters, is whether the elevators are permanent and whether the escalators return to the security zone.

READ MORE: TUI and Jet2 are advising concerned travelers about queuing and baggage drop-off at Birmingham Airport

For more stories from across Solihull, including BHX, breaking news, politics and what’s on, sign up to our MySolihull newsletter

Birmingham Airport CEO Nick Barton took BirminghamLive around the airport on June 11 to update us on work at the terminal, where we put the escalator question to him, along with other traveler concerns about scenes of queue chaos.

Mr Barton revealed that the escalators have been removed for health and safety reasons and will not return. He explained that when the elevators can operate at maximum capacity, they will be the main means of transporting passengers up to the departure lounge.

Mr Barton said: “The escalators were really dangerous. We removed them because they posed a health and safety problem. These lifts are huge, we really only need three of them to work at the top. If the ground space is freed up, the people have won. I don’t have to stand in line.”

However, much-needed ground space has yet to be freed up, meaning holidaymakers face large snaking queues at the terminal at peak times such as early mornings.

“In three days, more space will become available, giving us more queuing space. The end game is that people won’t be queuing (to get to the lifts),” Mr Barton said.

He added that passengers should queue outside to reduce panic and crowds inside. “It’s much more fun to queue outside because we regret the perception this has on passengers.”

The airport has received sharp criticism from holidaymakers over the way it has communicated with passengers about congestion in the terminal. BHX had expected the 2-litre rule to come into effect on June 1, easing restrictions on liquids and introducing the airport’s new state-of-the-art equipment.

But government transport chiefs announced they would have to re-validate all software on every machine (including at other UK airports such as London City, where the 2 liter limit had already been introduced). As a result, passengers now have to adhere to the 100 ml limit and there is no end in sight to the temporary measure.

Read the latest liquid rules and how to queue in our overview here.