On Monday 30 January, a UK airport made history, by introducing flights without security checks. For the first time in almost 50 years, a flight took off from a British mainland airport without the customary security checks for passengers and their possessions.
Flight 6844 departed from Campbeltown in South-West Scotland, destined for Glasgow, with 15 passengers aboard. Passengers were neither frisked nor had their baggage rummaged through.
Although the ban on sharp objects, firearms and liquids over 100ml still applies, passengers are only required to orally declare that they are not in possession of such items when boarding a flight.
Passengers have been subjected to personal searches and cabin-baggage checks since Britain ratified the Hague Hijacking Convention also known as the "United Nations’ Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft"
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), which operates Campbeltown, said: “These new arrangements have been agreed and approved by the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority. They continue to place safety and security at the forefront of every passenger’s journey, whilst offering facilitation benefits in most cases.”
However, The Prospect union has warned that the move by Campbeltown and two more island airports to abolish security checks only increases the risk of terrorist attacks. Moreover, it says, flight paths into Glasgow pass close to nuclear power facilities, an oil terminal and Ministry of Defence establishments, which makes security checks vital.
The union’s negotiator, David Avery, said: “The rules we had have been in place for more than 10 years, since September 11 and the terrorist attacks in America, to stop people taking over planes.
"Even with planes the size of these, which are very small, when they’re flying over urban areas, when they’re flying over oil depots, the size doesn’t particularly matter.
He said public consultation with passengers, the public and staff should have been conducted before the decision was made, “rather than it being done behind closed doors with the company and ministers.”
Loganair’s managing director Jonathan Hinkles urged for flexibility in the industry, opposing the “one-size fits all approach to airline security.”
“Everyone knows each other very well. And the vast majority of customers are using it as purely a local ‘bus service’ ” he added.
