New Zealand will strengthen security at its regional airports by training staff to pay close attention to passengers, Transport Minister Annette King said on Monday.
Another measure she announced was that the Civil Aviation Authority has been told to speed up a study on fitting barriers between pilots and passengers on small aircraft, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
The moves were the government's first reaction to the attempted hijacking of a small passenger plane on an Air New Zealand flight between the South Island cities of Blenheim and Christchurch on Feb. 8.
The government will make decisions about whether more extensive and costly measures are needed after a full review of domestic aviation security in late May.
"The Government constantly reviews aviation security threats, but following the recent events we think it is prudent to conduct a thorough review," she said.
King said an important issue raised in the report prepared by the Civil Aviation Authority, the Police and Aviation Security was that on-line booking and ticket machines at small airports meant there was "quite minimal" contact with airline and ground staff.
"What's been suggested is that there be further training and heightened awareness of ground staff at the gates so they are actually taking a closer look at passengers boarding planes," she said.
"That point of contact is really important. With training, they could be much more alert about passengers entering aircraft," she said.
King said there were problems with fitting flight deck barriers in small planes that carried 19 passengers or less, because there were no cabin staff and the pilots had to see what the passengers were doing.
Aircraft with 20 or more passengers have cabin staff.
King said the government was aware of the need to carefully consider any further measures which would impact on airports and passengers.
King said the risk of a terrorist attack was considered to be "very low indeed" and the risk profile for "opportunistic episodes" like the one on the Blenheim to Christchurch flight had not been changed as a result of the attempted hijacking.
The attempted hijacking of the flight between the South Island cities of Blenheim and Christchurch resulted in the arrest of 33-year-old Asha Abdille.
She appeared in Christchurch District Court on Friday on 11 new charges relating to the incident, including threatening to kill, possessing an offensive weapon, and taking a dangerous weapon on an aircraft.
She was previously charged with hijacking the aircraft and injuring the pilots and a passenger. The flight landed safely.
Source: Xinhua
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