Australian airports remain vulnerable

Terrorists take note: there are valuable opportunities available in Australia, where a hiccup in the country’s vast airpoirt system is said to have “put larger planes parked at major airports at risk of terrorism.” Case in point is Adelaide International Airport, which, while not one of Australia’s largest airports, serves over 5.8 million domestic and international travellers through annually. Many are just passing through for refueling on a domestic flight, and that’s the rub: domestic travellers are not screened, even though they often disembark on the Adelaide tarmac. “At any one time, there are always refuelling tanks on the tarmac with the bigger planes at major airports and that poses a major terrorist risk,” said Australian National University’s Brett Bowden.

Thankfully, the government has taken note of the problem, though that is a far thing from actually fixing it. An independant review by Sir John Wheeler noted “the vulnerability of current arrangements as they relate to unscreened passengers’ regular public transport on aircraft arriving at major airports with access to the apron and parked jet aircraft.”

A spokesman for federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile said “security measures were tied to the existing threats and are tied to the aircraft type and not the airport.” The opposition Labor party, Adelaide Now reported, promised to “ensure that all regional passengers flying into major airports were screened before boarding aircraft.