Tighter security around domestic air travel seems inevitable and passengers are likely to pick up the cost, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday.
She was speaking after Transport Minister Annette King met officials from the Aviation Security Service, the Civil Aviation Authority and police to discuss the implications of Friday's alleged attempt to hijack an Air New Zealand flight.
Clark said King had been told of their preliminary thinking and would receive recommendations next week.
"From what I've heard it would seem to me that some tightening of security is inevitable," Clark said at her post-cabinet press conference on Monday.
"But we need to think carefully about the advice we're getting and consider it fully."
Clark said protection for pilots and passengers were both issues to be considered.
The Aviation Security Service has confirmed that passenger luggage in aircraft containing less than 90 seats is not screened. Smaller airports have no facilities for screening passengers.
On Friday, a woman named Asha Ali Abdille, from the South Island city of Blenheim, was charged with attempted hijacking. She allegedly pulled out a knife on a flight between Blenheim and Christchurch and demanded to be taken to Australia. The woman was a refugee from Somalia.
Pilot and co-pilot were injured in the scuffle but the flight landed safely in Christchurch.
Source: Xinhua
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