MAHB: Boost security instead of restricting non-passengers
Deputy Transport Minister (centre) and Cooperative Aviation Security ProgrammeAsia Pacific (CASP-AP) senior aviation safety adviser and programme coordinator (right) at the meeting in Sepang yesterday. With them are ( from left) Laotian Department of Civil Aviation director-general Vanhpheng Chanthaphone, DCA director of aviation security Abdul Rahmat Mahat and International Civil Aviation Organisation Asia and Pacific Office regional officer Ross Lockie. Pic by Fariz Iswadi Ismail SEPANG: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has proposed to the government to tighten the airport security and increase the level of security in all airports, instead of restricting non-passengers from entering the terminals.
MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said it had beefed up security in its airports by adding more uniformed and nonuniformed security personnel to patrol inside and around the airports.
Departing passengers were also fully screened before they were allowed to board the aircraft, he added.
“I think we are focusing too much on passengers and non-passengers. We want to focus on the bigger picture in terms of security. We want to tighten security for the country.
“In terms of airport security planning, we have discussed it with the Transport Ministry and the minister himself.
“We have proposed a solution to them.
“We have to analyse a lot more… in terms of how security in airports can be heightened, and hopefully, we don’t have to restrict non-passengers (from entering) airports,” Badlisham said at MAHB’s Hari Raya open house here yesterday.
However, he declined to elaborate on MAHB’s airport security plans due to safety measures.
Discussions on airport security emerged following global terrorist attacks on airports, such as in Brussels, Belgium, and Istanbul, Turkey.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had proposed that only passengers be allowed to enter airports in Malaysia, while non-passengers could only be outside their premises or in designated areas.
Meanwhile, Badlisham said security at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul had been increased with additional security measures.
This includes a police roadblock before vehicles reach the airport and another screening at the airport’s entrance.
“We allow passengers and nonpassengers to enter the airport (Sabiha Gokcen International Airport) but they would have to go through security screening first,” he said
He added that MAHB had been working with Turkish authorities since last year on airport security following incidents in Europe.
There are more police patrolling outside Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and vehicles, such as delivery trucks, are now asked to use a specific road where it will first be scanned instead of heading straight for the loading bay.
Speaking on the failed military coup in Turkey last Friday and the country’s announcement of a threemonth state of emergency by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Badlisham said aircraft movements were back to normal over the last three days.
He said passenger load was about 80 per cent on take-off and landing, which meant there were many people who continued to travel.
“In terms of (flight) cancellations, it is no more than what we see on a normal day of operation.
“But we will keep monitoring over the next few weeks on how this (state of emergency) will affect us.”
Turkey was also under attack on June 29 when the country’s main international airport, Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, was subjected to terrorist bombings that left 45 dead and hundreds wounded. By Bilqis Bahari