BAA pushes for end of ‘redundant’ airport safety checks

News at Heathrow 01/11/2010

Ferrovial selling 10 per cent of BAA. : 2010 : UK security minister embarrassed in airport liquids gaffe

BAA bosses say the USA is not practising many checks it insists UK airports carry out.

BAA is throwing its weight behind calls for UK aviation security policy to be revamped. The move, by the UK’s biggest airport operator, follows public criticism by the chairman BA of what he calls ‘redundant’ anti-terror measures.

Colin Mathews, CEO at BAA, says the current airport security regime results from an ad-hoc assembly of incremental changes. He thinks security policy would be far superior if the system were designed afresh from scratch to produce a cohesive, integrated process.

BAA, which owns Heathrow Airport, highlighted security screening of passengers’ shoes as a prime example of how uncomfortable the security regime had become for travellers. Airport operators are in talks with the Department for Transport (DfT). The DfT, in turn, must work with the European Union to co-ordinate changes. Mathews was fairly optimistic that the passenger experience could be improved in terms of comfort whilst retaining the focus on security.

Earlier, Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, blasted the USA for continuously adding more ‘redundant’ security checks like individual checks of laptop computers and screening of shoes. He said many of the security checks the USA was requiring of European aviation were not being performed inside the United States.

Ferrovial selling 10 per cent of BAA. : 2010 : UK security minister embarrassed in airport liquids gaffe

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