Aviation authorities are considering ditching mandatory shoe removal at airport security checkpoints, following a similar move by the United States, Barbados TODAY can reveal. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is set to consult stakeholders before the end of the year, opening the door to a less intrusive screening process for passengers at the Grantley Adams International Airport.
Barbados’ move to review its aviation security process comes in the wake of last week’s announcement by United States Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that travellers are no longer required to remove their shoes during security screenings at US airports.
“We are planning a discussion at the national level before we make a decision on that. It will be a committee meeting. We have the National Civil Aviation Security Committee (NCASC), where those decisions are taken, where policy decisions are made,” said CAA’s Director General Tracey Forde-Bailey.
That meeting will be held before the end of the year, she said.
“Usually, we speak to our international partners, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and, of course, the TSA [Transportation Security Administration]. We have discussions, consultations with our international partners,” she explained.
“We have a security directive from international partners, we discuss it internally, and we submit proposals to our working group and then make that recommendation to the committee to be agreed and ratified.”
The civil aviation regulator said that, as usual, any decisions taken at these meetings inform adjustments to the Civil Aviation Regulations and the national security programme. Such outcomes become State-level decisions.
NCASC Chairman Diane Shurland cautioned that “just because it was done in the [US], does not necessarily [mean] we are either meant to follow it, or it applies to us”.
“The US authorities would make rules and regulations for matters of their airports. This would not affect airports outside of the US, where states would make their own rules and regulations. I have heard it, personally, being asked, ‘Why is this not implemented here?’ And I perceive there are a number of reasons. I don’t know what they are as yet, because we have not discussed it,” Shurland told Barbados TODAY.
For the measures to be enacted, new rules and regulations must be agreed by Barbados’ civil aviation authorities.
“Currently, both the Civil Aviation Authority and the committee are oversight bodies that review these rules; and so, the airport has its policies for security, and they are the ones at this present time who make the rules that are viewed by a number of persons, including the government and so on,” Shurland said.
The US Homeland Security Secretary said the end of the requirement to remove shoes at airport security checkpoints—put in place almost 20 years ago in the wake of the post-9/11 foiled attack by a passenger wearing explosives in his shoes—was immediately effective nationwide.
A pilot programme had shown that the TSA had the equipment needed to keep airports and aircraft safe while allowing people to keep their shoes on.
Noem added that, while shoe removal is no longer standard procedure at airport security, some travellers may still be asked to take off their footwear “if we think additional layers of screening are necessary”.
Security screening of shoes became a requirement in 2006, after “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in late 2001.
All passengers between the ages of 12 and 75 were required to remove their shoes, which were scanned along with carry-on bags and other separated items such as outerwear. (EJ)
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