NZ approach to laptop ban more balanced says airline group

A body representing airlines talked to safety authorities in three countries - including New Zealand - soon after Britain and the United States banned laptops in some aircraft cabins.

New Zealand, Australia and Canada are members of the Five Eyes spy group with the US and Britain but have not imposed a ban on large electronic devices in cabins of planes travelling from up to 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa.

In New Zealand the Civil Aviation Authority has said it continues to closely liaise with relevant local agencies and international partners to ensure that security screening measures in New Zealand remain appropriate.

An International Air Transport Association security chief said the organisation had more time to consult the three other Five Eyes members following the sudden imposition of the ban in March.

Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president of security, said the three countries were able to take a more balanced approach.

''It's not uncommon for nations to use the same intelligence but take an different approach.

"I think what is clear however, is that we did have an opportunity to speak more closely with the three nations that took different measures,'' he said at a briefing at the association's annual meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

The ban applies on direct, inbound flights to British airports from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The US ban is wider and includes all direct flights from international airports serving the cities of Cairo in Egypt; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait City in Kuwait; Casablanca in Morocco; Doha in Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

IATA says the ban was imposed with no prior co-ordination or collaboration with the industry, no information sharing and no consideration given to alternative measures.

It is worried about large numbers of lithium battery devices in cargo holds and the commercial impact which could run into billions of dollars a year if it was widened.
Careen said aviation was a terror target.

''The unfortunate part of our business is that is a target of terrorism and will continue to be.''

Every day the industry needed to carry out security checks on 11 million people a day and screened about 20 million pieces of baggage.

Besides the unspecified threats from electronic devices, others were constantly evolving.
One was the insider threat which were an increasing challenge and there had been no perfect vetting system invented yet.

Airline chiefs do fear that the ban will spread.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Peter Bellew told a panel discussion he could see a time when they are thrown in bins like oversize liquid bottles.

Landside security exposed passengers, staff and meeters and greeters to more risk as airside security had improved.

While airline systems were secure they were at risk of cyber attack and more layers of protection and advanced detection capabilities were needed, an IATA paper said.

• Grant Bradley travelled to Cancun with the assistance of IATA and Air New Zealand.