SECURITY SYSTEMS AT HEATHROW AIRPORT

The Attitude of Business Passengers towards Security Development in Heathrow Airport

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The Attitude of Business Passengers towards Security Development in Heathrow Airport

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

In this paper, we are discussing the security development issues at Heathrow Airport, London, and the business passengers' attitudes towards the security development. Aviation organizations or airports have a unique and complex role in serving the public good. As public entities most airports are subject to tighter budget restraints, held to higher standards of litigation and regulation, and are affected by change that comes to fruition at a quicker pace than private and nonprofit organizations. The dynamic environment of aviation can further complicate aviation management because it is controlled not only by federal, state, and local governance entities, but also by a unique set of regulations, laws, statutes, and funding restraints. Additionally, airports are among the most dynamic, potentially dangerous, and strictly regimented operations and settings today. The combination of operation and commerce create a fluctuating atmosphere requiring keen oversight from all areas. Consequently, airport management must respond to change with a great sense of urgency.

The United Kingdom accounts for roughly 40% of all commercial aviation activity and 50% of all general aviation activity in the world. There are 449 commercial airports in the United Kingdom. These commercial airports differ in physical size, layout, and number of passengers and volume of flights they handle. At least 421 airports have passenger volume flow of over 10,000 annually. Transportation and Security Administration is a UK government agency which provides and oversees passengers and checked-in baggage screening at these commercial airports. TSA has established several different screening checkpoints for passengers and mandates the screening of all checked baggage on outbound flights of every airline at Heathrow Airport, as well. TSA has installed and use stand-alone (Berrick 2003, 233).

The London Heathrow Airport is located in the western suburbs of London in the UK. This is the fourth airport worldwide in terms of passenger traffic, with about 65.9 million who passed through in 2010. It is the first airport in Europe in terms of passengers and is the first airport worldwide for international traffic (to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Hong Kong International), with over 63 million international passengers for the twelve months before 31 May 2011. Regarding the number of movements, the airport ranks only 13th in the world with 454,883 takeoffs / landings (2010), but is second in Europe behind Paris-Charles de Gaulle. It is one of six airports in London and international owned BAA Limited, which manages, in addition to Heathrow, six other UK airports (Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh). The London Heathrow airport is the platform of correspondence main (hub) for several British airlines.

Explosives Detection Systems (EDS), CT scanner and Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) machines to check the safety of checked baggage loaded on planes. Due to September 11 terrorist attacks, Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) was enacted in 2001. Before the ATSA, respective airline operators and air ...