Security in focus in the airfreight industry
The focus at the second Lufthansa Cargo Security Conference in Frankfurt today is squarely on mounting security requirements in the international airfreight industry. All in all, around 250 experts from the aviation industry, science and political life are attending the conference to discuss the latest developments.
Karl-Heinz Köpfle, Board Member Operations at Lufthansa Cargo, underlines the importance now assumed by security in international aviation: “Security is a topmost priority at Lufthansa Cargo. There is no place for compromise. We have invested immense resources in technology and training so as to offer customers even higher security standards, coupled with fast and costefficient processes.”
At the same time, Köpfle also emphasises that the tightening of security regulations must bring real gains in security: “It is pointless for us to incur additional expenditure from new security measures, if they are not thought-through or not at all necessary because they fail to effect any objective improvement in security. That is not in our interest.”
The conference will be informed about new EU regulations by the head of aviation security at the EU Commission, Dr. Eckhard Seebohm. These predominantly envisage tighter checks on shipments to the USA. From August this year, for example, full 100% screening is mandated for all air cargo transported to US destinations on passenger aircraft. As experts from both sides of the Atlantic, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Member of the European Parliament, and Warren Miller, Air Cargo Manager at the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), will dwell in detail on the security issues at stake in traffic between Europe and the USA.
Harald Zielinski, head of security at Lufthansa Cargo, underscores the urgent need for harmonising security rules in the airfreight industry: “There is no reason why the USA should not accept the high security standards that we do offer in Germany.” The entire industry will profit, if standards are harmonised.