As exclusively revealed in last month's edition of SMT the reforms are chiefly concerned with "increased control of both international and domestic flights", concentrating on controlling and monitoring access to sensitive areas of both airports and aircraft as well as passenger throughput, their hand luggage, hold luggage, general cargo and air mail.
The reforms – based on rules written in Document 30 of the European Civil Aviation Conference – are also designed to improve the training of security staff on the ground, define specifications for air security-related systems and equipment and classify weapons or other items that must be banned from airports and aircraft.
Full details of the plans were being implemented as SMT went to press, but reports suggest that final approval for all the new security measures will be granted in December. In line with this, a Brussels-based committee has been tasked with developing proposals on cockpit security, strengthening training and air-ground communications and the appropriate use of CCTV cameras.
On a global scale, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is planning to reform global aviation security standards by "thoroughly reviewing and strengthening" current policies in view of the ongoing terrorist threat.
The decision follows a resolution adopted at a recent conference of the United Nations in Montreal, at which there were calls for a high level meeting to take place at the "earliest possible opportunity" to "develop measures for preventing, combating and eradicating acts of terrorism that involve civil aviation".
Speaking exclusively to SMT, the ICAO's Denis Chagnon said: "The meeting will focus on long-term safeguard measures to prevent what we saw in America, in other words the 'new breed' of hijacking where the aircraft itself is used as a weapon."
Chagnon added: "Statistics tell us that, in 2000, 22 million flights passed by with eight hijackings and no deaths. Tuesday 11 September was the first time that people died as a result of terrorists using an aeroplane as a weapon. Nobody ever thought it could happen, but now that it has we must address the issue and prevent it from happening again."
Regulating domestic flights
Regulating domestic flights (so that they meet the same security standards as those for international flights) and the issue of locking aeroplane cockpit doors will also be debated.
Other possible action to be examined and discussed include:
- a full review of aviation security rules within the Convention on International Civil Aviation;
- the creation of a special fund for urgent action in the field by the ICAO, with an ongoing and stable income thanks to increases in payments by member countries;
- an injection of funds in poorer countries to assist with the necessary resources for implementing safety and security-related projects at major airports and on aeroplanes;
- assisting the resolution of identified deficiencies in members' security practices through financial and technical assistance, technical seminars on safety oversights, the development of guidance materials and the creation of a quality assistance function within the ICAO;
- examining the increased use of biometric screening in airports in a bid to spot suspect travellers, as well as the investigation of passengers' security portfolios during a given flight in order to retain them at their destination point if necessary.
Mission impossible?
Downward pressures on security budgets are beginning to bite deep, to the extent that they now have the potential to jeopardise public safety. That is the central message from manned security company Securiplan's managing director Phillip Ullmann in the wake of reports in The Times concerning security provision at Heathrow Airport.
"We were recently short-listed for a sizeable contract at Heathrow, but it was awarded to Securicor ADI after we'd pulled out of the tendering process. We felt that the terms and conditions of the Invitation to Tender were commercially unrealistic. Long hours and low pay rates were the order of the day, and we were unwilling to commit our officers on that basis."
Ullmann added: "It would have been extremely difficult to attract quality staff with the necessary security clearance to work airside. There were also onerous penalty clauses which would have placed undue pressure on the contractor to deliver the service."
Securiplan has been involved in baggage handling contracts at Heathrow, the contracts for which are awarded by the Airline Operators Committee (which includes representatives from all the major airlines). Personnel require airside passes once they have been vetted and then subjected to rigorous counter terrorist check (CTC) clearance.
Ullmann is adamant that clients need to realise they are at fault, not the guarding contractors.
Source
SMT