SA heeding Iata’s call to streamline security

SA IS already well on its way to implementing more efficient airport security measures, in line with the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata’s) call at a conference this week.

Iata told an aviation security conference in Cape Town this week that ineffective duplication of security procedures for passengers needed to be abolished.

Kurt Larsen, director-general of the Danish civil aviation administration, said governments were imposing too many layers of security. “We are spending too much time on screening low-risk passengers instead of identifying high-risk passengers.”

He said draconian measures adopted after the September 11 attacks on the US were meant to appease a fearful public and were not necessarily effective security.

The airline industry spends about 5,9bn on security, a bitter pill to swallow in light of huge losses in the industry as costs such as fuel rise and demand falls.

Guenther Matschnigg, Iata’s vice-president of safety, operations and infrastructure, said with the airline industry facing global losses in excess of 11bn, the sector was growing frustrated with the huge cost of duplicated and ineffective security. He said while the industry took security very seriously, there needed to be a new approach to protecting passengers and airlines.

Matschnigg said security agencies needed to manage their risks better. “Risks must be prioritised to allocate resources where they are most needed.”

SA’s Department of Home Affairs, the Airports Company SA and state IT group Sita are set to begin rolling out an advanced passenger processing system ahead of next month’s peak period.

baumannj@bdfm.co.za