- America's demand for air marshals on all transatlantic
flights encountered further problems yesterday when four countries said
they would not comply and a fifth said it believed sufficient precautions
were already in place.
-
- Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Portugal said they would
not allow the armed guards to travel and would cancel flights if the sort
of risk existed that justified having them on board. South Africa said
its security measures were already sufficient.
-
- But British pilots' representatives, who oppose armed
police on board planes, agreed to sign an agreement with the Government
on how the marshals would be deployed. As a result of a 90-minute meeting
between pilots' leaders and Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for
Transport, cabin crews are expected to be told when sky marshals are on
a plane and that pilots will remain in charge.
-
- The agreement is part of a "protocol" to be
drawn up between the Government and the airline industry. The pilots also
agreed to hold a "summit" with airlines to draw up an industry-wide
agreement on the use of armed guards. The Government is expected to concede
in the next few days that airline ground staff and stewards can also be
told when a marshal is on board. But Mr Darling told MPs that for security
reasons passengers would not be told.
-
- Other countries have been more supportive of the US initiative,
announced over Christmas after an increase in the nation's terror-alert
status. France said specially trained agents had been flying on some French
flights to the US for some time, although the scale of the programme and
the number of flights involved remained a matter of discussion with the
American authorities.
-
- Airline operators in Germany and Canada said marshals
had been travelling on some transatlantic flights since the 11 September
attacks. Mexico, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand also offered
broad support.
-
- British Airways flight 223 to Washington, which has been
cancelled twice in the past week and has suffered lengthy delays, took
off from Heathrow yesterday an hour and a half late.
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- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=478759
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