Air Transportation More Secure 10 Years Later, But Gaps Still Exist

WASHINGTON --(BUSINESS WIRE)--The United States and Canada have taken significant steps since the 9/11 terrorist attacks to secure air transportation, but gaps remain, according to a security summary issued today by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA). The summary, titled Aviation Security, 10 Years After the 9/11 Attacks, explores how aviation security has changed since Sept. 11, 2001, and identifies additional actions still urgently needed to more thoroughly secure North American skies.

“Together, the regulators, the airlines, other airline industry employees, and the pilots who are on the front lines of aviation security have taken many important actions, but the threat is very real, and much more needs to be done.”

“The 9/11 attacks forced the government and airline industry to reevaluate how to secure air transportation and take on an entirely different kind of terrorist threat,” said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president. “Together, the regulators, the airlines, other airline industry employees, and the pilots who are on the front lines of aviation security have taken many important actions, but the threat is very real, and much more needs to be done.”

While ALPA’s analysis highlighted significant accomplishments in U.S. and Canadian airline security since 9/11, the summary revealed shortfalls that need to be addressed in current U.S. and Canadian aviation security, including the need to adopt a threat-based approach to security screening, increase focus on securing all-cargo flight operations, enhance the U.S. Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) Program, institute threatened airspace management (TAM) to improve procedures during an identified threat, encourage installation of secondary barriers on all airliners, enhance action to protect aircraft from laser attacks, fully fund the Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program, and enhance government-industry-labor collaboration.

Read a complete copy of Aviation Security, 10 Years After the 9/11 Attacks.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 53,000 pilots at 39 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.