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Tony Tyler, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, told a security conference in Washington D.C. on Monday that airports need to revamp their security checkpoints going forward, or they will be overwhelmed by the expected growth in passenger travel.
Noting that last year he sid that aviation was at a crossroads about whether to be content with a "business as usual" security model for air travel or whether to make drastic changes, Tyler said he believes aviation "is safe and secure."
But, the events of this year - particularly the disappearance in March of the Malaysia Airlines flight and the shooting down in July of a commercial jet also from Malaysia Airlines - showed gaps in the system.
"These gaps cannot be closed with a business-as-usual attitude," Tyler said. "Silos that prevent sharing of information between governments and other aviation stakeholders must be torn down. Inflexible one-size-fits-all regulations cannot adapt to evolving threats. They must be replaced with a more flexible outcome-focused approach."
Tyler noted that passengers and governments have spent more than $100 billion on security since the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, and airlines alone are spending more than $8 billion a year. But Tyler said the system is neither efficient nor user-friendly.
"Our passengers repeatedly tell us that the security checkpoint is a universal pain point," he said. "Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed in our 2014 Global Passenger Survey said that a bad security experience at a transfer airport will affect their future connecting choices."
And with the expected growth in travel - IATA predicts that by 2034 airlines will carry approximately 7.3 billion passengers, more than double the number today - today's model is not sustainable for the long term.
"We have no choice but to change," Tyler said. "If we do not, airport checkpoints will be overwhelmed. Wait times continue to be the biggest checkpoint gripe according to our survey. They will rise exponentially with more passengers. Efficiency will decline and costs will rise."
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