Technology will enable safer air travel

By Charles Sander | Unisys Corporation

Airports, airlines, passengers, communities and governments worldwide have felt the effects of the financial decompression of the aviation sector as a result of terrorist attacks, SARS, and airline failures. Failing or bankrupt airlines, loss of industry and support-service jobs -- even tourism and entertainment communities have been hit -- contributed to global financial losses.

Ever-evolving mandates by governments to improve security are changing the way that airports look at terminal designs, passenger processing and business planning to remain sustainable and profitable. Even new aircraft designs are affected.

With the entry of the Airbus A380, with a capacity of 500 passengers, airports will need to readdress ticketing procedures, security queues, holding-room configurations, boarding times, jetway configurations, baggage screening and delivery systems, and even arrival and departure airport roads.

Another significant financial planning factor for airport management is the consolidation of air carriers, such as American and TWA and more recently Air France and KLM, and changes to their business model, such as the rapid growth of the "low-cost carrier" where airlines want to pay for facility space, services and infrastructure on a "per-use" basis versus leasing or owning their own terminal facilities.

Governments worldwide have committed themselves to creating new agencies and enacting laws to meet a paradigm shift in threat and vulnerability, one that is "stateless": fractional groups attacking established world states.

In reality, on September 11, 2001, the world was attacked and world transportation was the method of delivery. In the United States, the Aviation Transportation Security Act of 2001 was passed. Many countries and industry organizations have already enacted, or followed with, similar laws, rules or guidelines. These laws have affected the way that airports, airlines, passengers and shippers must interact if they are to use, or be a part of, the aviation community. These same laws have also been the catalyst for driving investment, innovation, and technology development and efficiencies.

Biometrics systems

The introduction of biometrics as a means of identification for both passengers and airport employees has been accelerated. The Airports Council International (ACI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) are cooperating on a "Simplifying Passenger Travel" initiative that uses biometrics, including iris scan, facial recognition, hand geometry and fingerprinting, to speed travellers through immigration formalities at airports.

A pilot project underway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has reportedly cut immigration waiting times to 11 seconds for passengers on the programme. The United States has also initiated a pilot project, testing travel document readers and kiosks between two international airports in a similar effort to speed up clearance times without negative impact on security.

Biometric technologies, potentially including fingerprints, retinal scans and facial recognition, are expected to be part of the technology tested. Also to be tested are next-generation surveillance cameras that could be used at access points for secure areas to guard against a second or unauthorized person slipping into a secure area on the heels of someone with proper credentials.

Biometrics will also play a part in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme. Using a form of "smart card" technology that is widely accepted in Europe and Asia-Pacific countries, biometric information will be loaded onto the identification cards of transportation workers to positively identify individuals who require unescorted physical and logical access to security areas and the functions of the transportation system. The objective of this programme is to provide one standardized, common credential, supported by a single integrated and secure network of databases.

The TWIC card is also intended to help unite physical security systems, like building access control systems, with information technology, enabling the authentication of TWIC cardholder to client/computing devices (wired or wireless).

Biometric technologies have improved dramatically through funding and research projects and are emerging as a viable technology to enhance both security and customer service. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published Standards on Biometrics in May 2003. The adopted standard is meant to assist the 188 member states in their selection of biometrics development and deployment.

Baggage screening

One of the most important aspects of airport security is the way in which checked baggage is security-screened and handled.

The US Aviation Transportation Security Act of 2001 mandated that all baggage and/or cargo accepted for carriage on a US commercial passenger aircraft must be 100 per cent screened by December 2002.

ICAO's Aviation Security Panel, which produces recommended practices and standards for States under Annex 17 of the Chicago Convention, with its partners IATA and the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations, was instrumental in fast-tracking 17 new security standards into Annex 17. These entered into force in July 2002. The three most important of these were the application of Annex 17 to domestic as well as international flights, a new standard requiring 100 per cent screening of checked bags by 2006, and aircraft cockpit door hardening, which is coming in a future resolution.

It is also noteworthy that after the Pan American Flight 103 bomb explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, the United Kingdom started developing in-line baggage-screening systems in 1990, with 100 per cent checked baggage screening implemented countrywide in December 2002.

New technologies and building designs are being developed to reduce the cost of 100 per cent baggage-screening mandates.

Baggage screening at airports in the United States alone involves an estimated one billion checked bags per year and over 150,000 billion pounds of air cargo. The early estimated cost to implement in-line baggage and explosive detection system screening equipment for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was US$400 million, including building modifications, equipment and installation. Boston's Logan International Airport was estimated at US$146 million, and Washington-Dulles International Airport was US$125 million. This is an expensive, but necessary, cost.

Research and development for technology improvements or alternative solutions are important to reduce the cost of future baggage security screening and many initiatives are underway around the world.

Cargo screening

The United Kingdom is a leader in "known shipper" programmes, having enacted laws and implemented programmes for vetting shippers in the 1990s. Similar efforts are ongoing for cargo and container shipments.

Operation Safe Commerce (OSC) and the Transportation Security Administration known shipper programmes are investigating, testing and developing new technologies and alternative strategies for cargo and container security screening, which for the moment is usually conducted in different facilities than the baggage security screening at most airports around the world. A future design strategy might be to consolidate baggage and cargo security screening in the same location. The ICAO and all international governments are united in the view that a pre-emptive mode, incorporating physical security screening, intelligence gathering and timely distribution, is the only option for thwarting international terrorism.

OSC is a public-private partnership dedicated to enhancing security throughout international and domestic supply chains while facilitating efficient cross-border movement of legitimate commerce. This initiative began in New England as a local public-private partnership where federal, state and local law enforcement entities and key private sector entities combined efforts to create a means to test available technology and procedures in order to develop secure supply chains. The full container shipment was fitted with onboard tracking sensors and door seals. It was constantly monitored through the various transportation modes as it travelled through numerous countries, government control and inspection functions.

Information technology advances

Of the numerous assets aviation executives manage, one of the most significant is information. All travellers rely on timely, accurate, adequate information, so information delivery is a prime financial strategy tool. Airports need to offer integrated information delivery. Given the challenges of aviation dynamics and the plethora of existing discrete systems, the investment in, and leveraging of, this asset can provide "superior customer satisfaction and competitive advantage".

Although the motives for aviation security are not competitively driven, the timely provision of significant information could substantially benefit enforcement agencies and governments worldwide in efforts to improve security and combat terrorism.

Many countries and agencies share information, although it is constrained at times by political sensitivities. However, the disparate technologies deployed across the world can cause delivery problems. There is no universal protocol. This phenomenon also exists within some government agencies that have developed their information technology delivery systems over time. Some information only exists on legacy systems written in antiquated code or may still be delivered only in hard copy form. Over the past two years, work has been underway to standardize disparate technology on modern platforms using cost effective industry standard security and data protocols.

This year, 22 US enforcement agencies will be integrated into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Information Technology Managed Services initiative started in 2002 will provide a singular platform for real-time collection, storage, management and transaction of data delivery connecting "virtually" every commercial airport and DHS facility in the United States and will deliver convergent information in the form of voice, data and video. The system is supported by redundant infrastructure and delivery strategies with no single points of failure to ensure integrity of data and delivery.

Many countries already have such strategies and equipment in place, which surprises many who imagine that although these systems would be commonplace for a nation's strategic defence agencies, they would be too expensive for local or regional public enforcement agencies. However, those that have deployed integrated information systems countrywide know that terrorism respects no geographic or social boundary.

Conclusion

The world has spent billions of dollars on security initiatives to protect the aviation industry and countries' freedom of movement and progress from terrorism. The power of gathering timely information and its relentless delivery cannot be overstated in the arsenal of security preparedness. International standards, agreements and common commitment must be the next investments.

A world community working together against terrorism holds great power; standing alone renders a nation vulnerable. To paraphrase the recent words of an ICAO speaker, "The terrorist needs to get it right only one time. The aviation industry needs to get it right every time!"

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Charles Sander is the vice president of airport operations at Unisys Corporation. He also serves on the American Association of Airport Executives and Airport Consultants Council committees for aviation security, safety and technology, and the RTCA committee for the rewriting of airport security equipment guidelines.