The big ones airports can be likened to small citiesThey are a potential target for illicit activity at different levels due to multiple logistical reasons. Firstly, they move a huge number of people and goods every day, and their economic impact is particularly relevant. Secondly, they usually follow a scheduled operation. Thirdly, they are widely reported in the media due to their global nature. Last but not least, they are public facilities offering a public service and are highly complex to protect. For all these reasons, air transport is a challenge when it comes to providing adequate physical, personal and operational security. A challenge which, as explained below, is being faced and met on a daily basis with ever increasing speed. positive escalation in results.
The key now is a proactive and predictive stance to anticipate any new threats and mitigate them before they materialise.
Airport physical security, or airport security, has been conceived and developed progressively throughout history. From the beginning of aviation to the present day, security has been progressing from small rudimentary checks, to today's exhaustive controls of baggage, persons or vehicles entering any of the security restricted areas of an airport, whether for a flight or for any other reason (employees, supplies, etc.).
However, if we look at the history of events, it is undeniable that threats have always been one step ahead of defence barriers. That is to say, the implementation of new security measures and new plans to provide adequate security against those who aim to carry out acts of unlawful interference, whether for political or other reasons, has become effective as the need for protection has been detected.
This traditionally reactive approachThe concept of airport security, under which airport security was conceived, can be contrasted by referring to some of the most significant events in aviation history in terms of security, as they have been a turning point in aviation and have resulted in new security measures or procedural changes in the applicable regulations:
- 1931: With the first documented act of unlawful interference, in which Panagra pilot Byron Richards was forced to fly for revolutionaries after hijacking his Ford three-engine plane in the city of Arequipa to drop leaflets on the city, and the gradual and increasing succession of such attacks on aviation, the first security measures at airports and airlines were introduced.
- 1970: the root event that led to the installation of the first metal detectors and the first X-ray machines for hand luggage in 1973 is marked by the multiple hijackings perpetrated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, known as the Dawson's Field hijackings.
- 1985 and 1988: the fatalities that occurred respectively with the explosions of Air India Flight 182 and another of the same company on the ground, and Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie (Scotland), all caused by explosives introduced in hold baggage, led the international community to consider the treatment of this baggage and its inspection, which had not been contemplated until then. It also established the need to associate all passengers on board with their checked baggage.
- 2001: of indisputable relevance was the event of 11 September 2001, when the attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington was perpetrated with three hijacked aircraft. Most of the security measures adopted since this event are set out in Amendment 11 of 2006 to ICAO Annex 17.
- In recent years, there have been a number of security incidents, fortunately many of them unsuccessful, which have made it necessary to adapt the standard in terms of concepts, procedures and inspection equipment to the new threats identified as a result: independent inspection of footwear, incorporation of ETD (Explosives Trace Detector) equipment, limitations on the transport of liquids, extension of the security restricted area to access airport facilities, etc.
This is just a brief overview of some of the events of unlawful interference that have occurred in the past. evidence of the reactive approach given to security in air transport since its inception. Admittedly, this was due to the difficulty of anticipating future acts of unlawful interference and detecting potential security breaches under this concept.
The real question is, what can realistically and feasibly be done to address the threats to air transport in the current sphere under which it operates?
This question has long been asked in aviation, and the answer to it undoubtedly lies in the aforementioned focus on safety. The key is to migrating from the traditional reactive to a proactive and predictive stance to anticipate any new threats and mitigate them before they materialise. Another important aspect is to review the characteristics of the airport environment that make it subject to acts of unlawful interference with a view to rendering them conducive to security.
Finally, we must not forget that illicit activity is dynamic: it develops and evolves. That is why airport security has decided to take the lead with an updated approach that is changing the strategic advantage that has historically led illicit activity. That is why airport security of the future, and even now, is emerging as a proactive security.
