…following bombing attempt by Nigerian
Following the Christmas Day attempt by a Nigerian to blow up an aircraft over Detroit, passengers travelling to the US will be subjected to a “one hundred percent” check before they board even after they would have passed the security scanners at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, according to Caribbean Airlines Area Manager, Carlton Defour.
Defour told Stabroek News yesterday that hours after the attempted detonation, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which governs security at airports and on airplanes in the United States, issued the new measure and it was immediately implemented.
“So right now even after passengers would have passed the scanners they would be subjected to one hundred percent checks at the airport gate before boarding the aircraft; they and their carry-on luggage,” Defour said yesterday. The new measure is up to the last day of the year but Defour said he is unclear whether it would continue or if there would be new instructions. As it is right now the airline is focussing on preventing the flights from being delayed and passengers are asked to check-in early so as to facilitate the new security check.
Chief Executive Officer of the CJIA, Ramesh Ghir, yesterday confirmed that there are new airport rules following the Christmas Day incident but could not give any detailed comment as a meeting is planned with the airlines this morning.
He pointed out that the new TSA instructions would be issued to the airlines and not the airport.
Over in Trinidad the Sunday Express reported the Director General of Civil Aviation, Ramesh Lutchmedial as saying there will be no exceptions in security searches for passengers heading to the US, neither for checked luggage nor for carry-on luggage at the Piarco and Crown Point International Airports for at least the next few days.
“All flights travelling to the US, there is a 100 per cent search of passengers and carry-on luggage. That is in addition to the normal security measure of searching the aircraft. Even after you are screened by the Airports Authority (security), you are being screened again by the boarding gate. That was introduced as a result of what happened yesterday (Christmas Day),” Lutchmedial told the Express.
The New York Times has since reported that the US government was vague about the steps it was taking following the incident and would only say that it wanted the security experience to be “unpredictable” and that passengers would not find the same measures at every airport.
However, the newspaper said that several airlines have since released detailed information about the restrictions, one of which is that passengers on international flights going to the United States will have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight without any personal items on their laps and would be restricted to only one carry-on item.
The Wall Street Journal , citing Dutch officials, reported that “the U.S. had asked airlines world-wide to tighten screening … that would apply indefinitely to all U.S.-bound flights.” The Journal says that “at London’s Heathrow airport, passengers passed through an extra layer of checks that previously had been carried out randomly.
The checks can involve extra questioning and body and bag searches, though BAA, the airport operator, didn’t report any significant delays to U.S.-bound flights. A BAA spokesman said the extra measures are the responsibility of the airlines.”
The Canadian Press reported that U.S.-bound fliers from London “said they received text messages informing them that the hand baggage allowance had been reduced to one item. Airport officials also said security had been heightened.”
Federal authorities on Saturday charged a Nigerian man with attempting to destroy an aircraft on its final approach to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day, and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national and son of a well known banker in that country, boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Dec. 24 with a device fastened to his body.
The commotion began as Northwest Airlines flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam prepared to land in Detroit, Michigan just before noon on Friday.
