Governments 'must pay airport security costs'

THE row over the huge cost of the counter-terror measures went beyond Britain's borders yesterday, after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) claimed governments should meet the costs of extra security at airports since police said they had foiled a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said British airport operator BAA had not been sufficiently prepared to deal with the consequences and more international cooperation was needed to tackle the terrorist threat.

In an interview with a French newspaper, he said airlines faced combined extra security costs of more than £4bn a year since the September 11 attacks in the United States - and governments had to shoulder part of the financial burden.

And, echoing the complaints of Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary, Bisignani insisted governments should pay for the extra costs arising from strengthened security imposed this month.

He added: "Most of the security problems with which we are confronted are not directly linked to air traffic.

"National security comes under the responsibility of governments. They should therefore assume the responsibility for the bill."

Bisignani said there was no reason why stations and stadiums should benefit from state subsidies, but not airports or airlines, and warned that recent experiences showed BAA needed to be better prepared in future.

"BAA's efforts to protect itself against such a crisis were insufficient," he said. "They were not prepared for the extra work related to security being reinforced to such a level."

In a controversial outburst on Friday, O'Leary, the head of Europe's largest low-cost airline, threatened to sue the British government for compensation if it did not scale back security measures in seven days, saying the transport chaos had cost the airline £2m.

British airline Virgin Atlantic also expressed frustration with BAA and suggested the government should consider covering part of the bill for security.

Bisignani also called for more international co-operation over the issue.

"International co-operation was the key to last week's success," he said. "We need more of it. We need more harmonisation at the international level. Terrorism is not going to disappear and the threats posed are going to change."