STORYHIGHLIGHTS
- BA chairman has launched an attack on "completely redundant" airportchecks
- Chairman Martin Broughton said the UK should stop "kowtowing" to US demands
- "America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do"
- Made remarks at the annual conference of the UK Airport Operators Association
(FT) --The chairman of British Airways has launched an attack on "completelyredundant" airport checks and said the UK should stop"kowtowing" to US demands for increased security.
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| BA Chairman attacked U.S. demands on increasing airline security. |
The comments by Martin Broughton reflect broader industry and passenger frustrationover the steady accumulation of rules on everything from onboard liquids tohand baggage that have blossomed since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
In remarks at the annual conference of the UK Airport Operators Association inLondon, he said that the practice of forcing people to take off their shoes andhave their laptops checked separately in security lines should be ditched.
Mr Broughton said there was no need to "kowtow to the Americans every timethey wanted something done" to beef up security on US-bound flights,especially when this involved checks the US did not impose on its own domesticroutes.
"America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do," hesaid. "We shouldn't stand for that. We should say, 'we'll only do thingswhich we consider to be essential and that you Americans also consideressential'."
The US required extra passenger checks at international airport gates after a Nigerianman tried to detonate a device hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroitin December, a move some European airlines say unnecessarily duplicatesexisting checks.
Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, owner of Heathrow, told the Financial Times:"Today's arrangements are incremental and I think there is a case forsaying let's start from a clean sheet of paper to achieve what we want toachieve."
M rBroughton said no one wanted weak security, but he added: "We all knowthere's quite a number of elements in the security programme which arecompletely redundant and they should be sorted out."
These included the requirement to remove footwear, brought in after British"shoe bomber" Richard Reid hid explosives in his shoes on atransatlantic flight in 2001, and differing approaches to checking laptops andother equipment.
"Take the iPad, they still haven't decided if it is a laptop or it isn't a laptop. Sosome airports think you should take it out and some think you shouldn't,"Mr Broughton said.
The US Transportation Security Administration is thought to regard shoe examination asa key part of a security sweep because of things such as exposives that may behidden in them.
Philip Hammond, the British transport secretary, has said he wanted a new regulatorysystem under which the government would set security outcomes and operatorswould come up with processes to deliver them.
However, the Department for Transport added these had yet to be finalised and there wereno plans to change rules on checking shoes and laptops.
The TSA told the FT in response to Mr Broughton that it worked closely withinternational partners to ensure the best possible security. "Weconstantly review and evolve our security measures based on the latestintelligence," it said.
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