Airport Security Boosted after Christmas Terror Attempt

The impact of the attempted Christmas Day 2009 mid-air explosion has caused airports around the world to ramp up security on a rigorous scale. The arrest of Nigerian citizen Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - the man responsible for triggering airport authorities the world-over to strengthen their security frameworks - occurred after officials in the US accused him of attempting to transport an explosive device on board a transatlantic flight between Holland and the US.

Here, Security International provides a run-down of some of the major changes that travellers can now expect in terms of revised airport security.

Airport Terrorism Security

Full body scanners employing millimetre wave technology are set to be deployed to boost London Heathrow Airport's terrorism security imminently. According to British airport operating organisation BAA, they will arrive at the UK's flagship airport "as soon as is practical." Additional Heathrow Airport security measures will include increased used of sniffer dogs and more intensive traveller profiling.

Full body scanners of the type destined for use at Heathrow are already in place at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam - the site of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab' departing flight on December 25th - and 13 additional scanners are set to join them. These won't be as exhaustive as the full body scanners - a fact brought about by negative reactions to them in terms of individual privacy concerns.

Airport Security: Full Body Scanners

Among other nations, Germany is on the fence in terms of introducing full body scanners, with the privacy issue chief among politicians' minds. Nigeria, though, is fully set to introduce them on an urgent basis, and will operate them alongside any additional airport security demanded by authorities in the US. Elsewhere, Italy is another country keen to adopt full body scanners as part of its airport security network. These will be sited at Malpensa Airport in Milan, and Fiumicino Airport in Rome - the two busiest such sites in the country.

New US Airport Security

From January 4th onwards, additional airport security applies to passengers arriving in the US from one of 14 nations considered to be "of interest". Prime among these are four nations especially closely linked to terrorism, namely Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Syria. The new US airport security measures do not factor in direct nationality issues, but are applied to all people arriving from these 14 countries. They supplement existing luggage checks and pat-down schemes.

Additional luggage checks and body searches are also now to take place at French airports, and are already taking place at Norwegian airports (as are multiple passport and board pass inspections). The same is true of airports in Australia, where pat-downs and baggage checks will remain the norm for passengers leaving for the US.

In Iraq - on the US "interest" list - meanwhile, airport security has not apparently been increased, but a spokesman representing Baghdad International Airport has told the BBC of the extremely high level already in place. Here, dogs sniff luggage and body pat-downs are carried out on passengers before airport terminal access is even allowed.