Talks on with US & UK for commandos on intl flights

New Delhi: Alarmed by terror attacks on Mumbai, India is in talks with some western countries for deployment of sky marshals — commandos trained
to prevent hijacks — on flights connecting India with some key international destinations.
While officials are tightlipped due to obvious security implications, highly-placed government sources said that talks are on with the US, Germany and the UK to beef up aircraft safety through random use of sky marshals. While sky marshals were pressed into service soon after the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft which took off from Kathmandu, detailed guidelines have not been laid down for use of these commandos on international flights. Therefore, the purpose of the current discussions is to put in place clear-cut guidelines for use of sky marshals on international routes and co-ordination between the security apparatus of the countries concerned.
Indian civil aviation authorities are now considering if the enabling provisions can be incorporated in the bilateral air service agreements (ASA) with these nations. While deployment of commandos was resorted to in recent years to spruce up security of Indian flights connecting Kathmandu, Dubai and Bangkok, there is no clear set of guidelines to be followed in such situations.
“We are in touch with the US, the UK and Germany for formalising an agreement to put air commandos on flights. Though the existing ASA with these countries does not prohibit deployment of sky marshals, clarity on the issue is required. We are considering their proposals positively,” a government official told ET on the condition of anonymity.
08/12/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Times of India

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2008, Safety Dec 2008