British orchestras have welcomed a move by the Department Of Transport to ease restrictions on musical instruments being taken into aeroplane cabins. As previously reported, ever since the terror alerts during August musicians had been banned from taking their instruments onto planes with them, meaning they would either have to put them in the hold or travel without them. With many musicians understandably unwilling to take the risk of having priceless instruments damaged in the hold, the rules meant they were unable to play international concerts with their own instruments, or at all.
The Department Of Transport, who oversee the rules governing air travel, had seemed unwilling to compromise on their current security policy for the benefit of musicians, despite lobbying from key orchestras and the Musicians' Union, and seeming support for their cause from the Department Of Culture. But last week the DoT announced a relaxing of the rules that will accommodate musicians.
The General Secretary of the UK's Musicians' Union, John Smith, welcomed the changes telling reporters: "I am extremely pleased that the department has been both flexible and responsive in recognising the unique demands of our members".
Meanwhile Paul Hughes of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, who were contemplating how to move their instruments to the Far East for an upcoming concert, said: "I'm immensely relieved. It's come at the perfect time for us. For an orchestra of our size, the cost of having to freight every instrument down to the smallest piccolo would have been back-breaking."