Dan Milmo, vervoert correspondent
Donderdag 7 Juni, 2007
De beschermer

Miljoenen Britten die de luchthavens van Verenigde Staten verlaten zien verplicht vingerafdrukken nemen onder nieuwe veiligheidsrichtlijnen onder ogen. De passagiers die van de V.S. reizen zullen hun vingers evenals hun paspoorten bij controle van het eind van volgend jaar, volgens een hogere veiligheidsambtenaar moeten voorstellen. Maagdelijke Atlantische Oceaan, de waarvan klanten kunnen worden gedwongen om langer te verdragen wacht in terminals, heeft de gelofte gedaan om zich de beweging te verzetten.

Michael Jackson, afgevaardigdesecretaresse van het Ministerie van de V.S. van geboortelandveiligheid, zei de procedure van toepassing zou zijn op alle passagiers en luchtvaartlijnen die uit de V.S. vliegen aangezien het land informatie over elke buitenlandse ingezetene accumuleert die door Amerika reizen. „Wij zullen biometrische evenals biografische gegevens nodig hebben,“ hij zei.

Under current regulations, EU airlines flying to the US have to supply passenger name records (PNR).

The arrangement is a source of tension, amid anger that American authorities are also seeking access to credit card details and email accounts. European flights have also been forced to turn around mid-air after US authorities barred certain passengers from entering the country, including Yusuf Islam, formerly known as the singer Cat Stevens. Mr Jackson said fingerprinting every passenger would not lead to long queues, even though airlines would have to do the job, and the procedure would be easy to integrate, over time, “into the business model of the industry”.

He said his department was willing to supply the electronic fingerprinting kit to airlines in the initial phase. Speaking at the International Air Transport Association conference in Vancouver, he said some larger airlines would be able to adapt existing check-in kiosks to scan passengers’ index fingers. “We don’t think phase one will be burdensome.”

He said the US would not demand a similar procedure for flights travelling from the UK to the US.

Airlines warned that the process would test passengers’ patience, already stretched by tight security guidelines in US and UK airports. Virgin Atlantic warned that mandatory fingerprinting “does not make sense” and it is lobbying against the proposal. “There is a real danger that it could create longer queues,” said Paul Charles, director of communications at Virgin. “Our check-in staff are not security or immigration officials and that’s not their role.”

Mr Jackson added that the most “catastrophic” threat to the airline industry was a rocket-propelled grenade attack similar to the one that nearly downed an Israeli airliner in Kenya five years ago. He said another attack on the scale of September 11 2001 was inevitable. “It is not clear whether it could be in aviation … but it would be silly not to understand that we will have many more September 11s. It is a long-term struggle.”

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