Guns at 30,000ft: the pros and cons
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By Jeremy Skidmore Daily Telegraph 15 January, 2004
Concerns over security threaten to cause increasing problems for both tourists visiting the United States and the British travel industry.
Airlines and the Government this week failed to settle their differences over whether sky marshals should be deployed on flights. Meanwhile, US plans to demand new hi-tech passports from visitors only added to the confusion over rapidly changing rules.
Talks were continuing between the Government, airlines and the British Air Line Pilots Association over the issue of sky marshals. At the same time the British and American travel industries were urging US authorities to postpone the implementation of their latest security measures. Under these, anyone travelling to the US with a passport issued after October 26 this year must be carrying the new biometric type or be in possession of a visa.
Almost none of the 27 countries currently participating in the visa-waiver programme expects to be able to issue the new-style passports by that date.
The BALPA opposes the use of sky marshals in principle but is willing to co-operate if there is a collective agreement on their use. British Airways, which has been forced to cancel several flights to Washington because of terrorist threats, supports their use in principle.
British pilots believe airlines would simply cancel a flight in the event of a terrorist threat - as BA did on the Heathrow-Washington route.
"The conundrum is when they would be deployed," said a spokesman for the pilots' association. "If there were a perceived threat, the captain simply wouldn't fly. It's difficult to envisage a situation where marshals would be used."
The association conceded that sky marshals could be deployed on flights as added security when there is a vague or non-specific threat, but this has yet to be agreed.
Pilots are insisting that the captain should remain in control of a flight at all times and believe that there are still unanswered questions over who would have the final say on the use of sky marshals. "Will it be the United States authorities, the British Government or the airline?" asked a BALP spokesman.
The Government has ruled out, at least for the time being, the random use of sky marshals on airlines, as happens in the US.
However, BA believes that the US authorities could demand random use of guards on inbound flights in the future, and the airline is confident that an acceptable method of deploying sky marshals can be found before the US feels obliged to take this step.
Iain Burns, BA's head of corporate communications, said: "BA will accept the deployment of armed police officers on flights if it is satisfied that safety is enhanced sufficiently for the flights to take place."
Among other issues to be resolved are how an armed policeman could pass through an aircraft and board a flight undetected by other passengers.
Thomas Cook Airlines, the charter arm of the tour operator, said sky marshals would have to be known to all flight crew because they are responsible for passenger safety.
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