GATWICK AIRPORT NEWS - 04/01/2010

Integrate security with intelligence gathering, IATA chief urges US

By Nick Jones.

The US must work to close security gaps following a failed bomb plot on a flight from the UK to Detroit, it has been urged.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry cannot support full pat-down searches for all passengers flying from the UK to the US in the long term and must therefore seek alternative methods of detecting security threats.

In a letter to homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano, IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani said: "Instead of looking for bad things - nail clippers and rogue bottles of shampoo - security systems need to focus on finding bad people."

"Adding new hardware to an old system will not deliver the results we need," he commented.

Mr Bisgnani added that existing security systems should be in constant dialogue with intelligence gathering to maximise security at airports across the globe.

Travellers flying from the UK to the US are currently subject to pat-down searches and are only permitted one piece of carry-on luggage.

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