Posted on 6-1-2004

Air travellers face years of chaos

The airline security alerts which have caused more than a dozen delays and cancellations over the past 10 days could afflict air travellers for years to come, the transport secretary, Alistair Darling, warned yesterday.
Before BA's flight 223 from Heathrow to Washington was again delayed for more than three hours for security checks last night, Mr Darling said: "I fear that for many years to come, we are going to be living in an age where there is going to be a heightened state of alert. Sometimes it will be quite severe, at other times perhaps less so.

"We are going to have to get used to increased security at airports."

Speaking on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost, the minister refused to discuss reports that US intelligence had picked up clues from an informant and from internet chatter that al-Qaida terrorists planned to use British, as well as French and Mexican, passenger jets for coordinated suicide attacks on US targets using previously unknown sympathisers settled in Britain and Europe.

He insisted that the decision to cancel the flights to the US, as well as two to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, was justified on the basis of intelligence warnings.

But he acknowledged that intelligence on potential threats was sketchy and sometimes inaccurate.

An official at the US homeland security department confirmed there had been "very specific and credible concerns" about the BA flights.

But the jittery response of US officials was demonstrated last week when it emerged that among the suspected passengers on six cancelled Air France flights to Los Angeles were a child, an insurance agent from Wales and an elderly Chinese woman.

The decision to operate today's flight to Riyadh will be kept under review until the last minute, BA said.

Yesterday extra security checks again delayed a BA flight from London to Washington.

A BA spokesman said: "The delay has been caused by the passing of some extra information to the US. They have requested to be supplied with extra information about the flight for security purposes before takeoff to Washington, the same as happened yesterday."

Of the two cancelled flights to Washington, he said: "The airline, at the end of the day, attaching a very, very high premium on safety, acting on our advice, decided on the information it had it would be better to cancel those two flights."

Echoing the concerns of transatlantic airlines and Balpa, the British pilots' association, he said: "The first line of defence, and the best possible thing you can do, is to stop somebody or stop something that you are concerned about getting on to an aeroplane."

BA223, a 747 jumbo jet carrying 225 passengers, left more than three hours late on Saturday amid intense security, with armed officers, sniffer dogs and Land Rovers parked outside Heathrow's terminal four. "There may be a little turbulence," said Captain Ian Herve as he announced the much-awaited takeoff.

Then he added: "This is probably the safest aircraft over the Atlantic tonight."

After the seven-hour flight, passengers applauded as the plane touched down at Washington Dulles international airport at about 2.10am British time (9.10pm local).

One passenger, Joel Ginsburg, told WTTG-TV in Washington: "There was a lot of security but we felt it was necessary due to the sensitivity of what was going on here.

"The BA people were very good and reassured us the security was tight as a drum and we were going to go for it."

Selected flights into the US are likely to have armed guards in the near future on the insistence of the US authorities.

Despite weekend reports of an impasse, both airlines and the pilots' association are resigned to deploying guards but they are seeking more emphasis on the checking of passengers and luggage before boarding.

"We accept the proposals in principle, but we want to be satisfied that the use of air marshals will make the plane safe to fly," a BA spokesman said.

The pilots' leaders, who have agreed a temporary arrangement with Virgin Atlantic, will be discussing their plans today with Mr Darling, but they remain convinced that armed guards would make flying less safe.