IATA for minimal use of pat-down searches

With the US issuing tougher rules for air security, the International Air Transport Association today said it supports improved technology to devise long-term solutions and recommended minimal use of measures like pat-down searches.

In a letter to US Homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano, IATA's director general Giovanni Bisignani said 'the air transport system cannot support 100 per cent pat-down searches over the long term' even though short-term temporary and extra-ordinary security measures were needed until the immediate threat had abated.

IATA is recommending a smaller percentage of intensive pat downs accompanied by technologies or proportionate screening procedures as a means to achieve near-term security requirements with reduced delays, he said.

The representative body of the international aviation industry stressed that the long term solutions to security of passengers and employees must include improved technology and effective risk assessment techniques.

Bisignani said while security was a government responsibility, it was a shared priority with the industry and called for better information sharing.

Following the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, the US aviation authorities announced a new set of rules for all international flights heading to the country, including 'thorough pat-down' at boarding gates, focused on upper legs and torso.