Airport security developments monitored by local office

The Maltese authorities are to continue monitoring closely international security developments at airports and act accordingly in the interest of passengers and users of the airport.

The Office of the Manager Airport Security (OMAS), within the Ministry for Home Affairs, said in a statement it reviewed the security procedures with Malta International Airport (MIA) following the Christmas Day incident aboard a Northwest Airlines plane bound for Detroit.

Appropriate security measures at the airport were taken in light of the information received.

OMAS said the current security standards for passenger screening adopted at the MIA met international and regional requirements. These same standards were in place at all European Union airports and adopted for all flights not departing to the United States of America.

Locally, quality control was performed on an ongoing basis by OMAS on all aviation security aspects. Nevertheless, constant vigilance was required in all areas of airport security and the security procedures employed had to be constantly updated as necessary.

The office said that as early as February last year, the ministry, through the Aviation Security Committee, had been evaluating the possibility of introducing body scanner technology.

No decision was taken as yet since this new technology was also being debated at EU level, and so far there was no common position.

OMAS said body scanners could be an added tool to airports.

“However, this is certainly not the ultimate answer for the detection of prohibited articles.

“In fact this new technology is still in the testing phase and requires further study.

“So far, only three EU countries have committed to deploying such technology and only in selected airports within their territories,” it said.