Airports targets for terrorists

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 11

Airports targets for terrorists

PA Auckland New Zealand and Australia could be terrorist targets because domestic terminals at their airports lack security screening, said a senior official of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots.

Captain John Le Roy, the association’s deputy president, said he was shocked to find passengers were not screened at domestic airports in either country. Lack of screening was an “invitation” to international terrorists.

Captain Le Roy, in Auckland to address the New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association conference, said strict airport security in Europe and North America would unavoidably lead terror-

ists to places where it was not so strict Australian pilots have threatened to ground all internal flights next week unless the Government commits itself to improving security. The Director of Civil Aviation, Air Commodore Stuart Mclntyre, who is attending the conference, said his department already employed 73 aviation security staff at a cost of $3 million a year, mainly for international passengers. That was about as much as the department could afford or was necessary in the present economic conditions. “We have weighed the cost against the perceived risk,” he said.