Decks clear for Air India's security check at Tribhuvan International Airport

Kathmandu: The government has allowed Air India (AI) to operate its own security check at the tarmac of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) by approving the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP).
SOP allows a security officer of the airlines to check passengers for 20 minutes through X-ray machine before boarding. It further says that there will be more than one security officer for such checking.
According to SOP, passengers will be in queue at the tarmac before going through a second screening by the AI security officers as passengers climb up the ladder.
National Aviation Security Committee (NASC) under Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) approved the SOP on Monday and handed it over to AI following a decision of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA).
“The process of permitting AI to have its own security at the TIA is now completed on our part after the approval of SOP,” said Loknath Gautam, chief of Civil Aviation Security Division at CAAN. The AI will shortly start deploying its security officers at TIA.
Then Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Hisila Yami on January 21, 2009 had given the permission for ´second screening´ of passengers before boarding the AI aircraft at TIA.
AI is the first airline to have its own security officers at the country´s only international airport. Officials said another Indian airline, Jet Airways, is in the process to get similar privilege.
The officials said that the SOP has made a provision that the security officers to be deputed in the airport won´t belong to India´s state security agencies but to the airlines. The security officials will have special aviation security skills.
Currently, Air India officials are allowed to carry out only manual-frisking of passengers at the ladder of the airplane. India had long been asking Nepal for such a facility, arguing that India-bound flights from Kathmandu were under serious security threat, especially after the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 on December 24, 1999.
15/08/09 Bimal Gautam/Republica, Nepal

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Categories: Airports Aug 2009, Foreign Aug 2009, NACIL Aug 2009, Safety Aug 2009