New Zealand says full airport security too expensive

May 18, 2009, 6:04 GMT

   Wellington - The New Zealand government on Monday rejected a proposal to screen all passengers and their baggage on internal flights, saying the country faced a low risk of hijacking and it was too expensive.

   New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority rules do not require small regional airports handling aircraft with fewer than 90 passengers to have facilities to X-ray hand baggage or screen passengers with metal detectors.

   Aviation security was reviewed after the country's first hijacking attempt in February last year of a 19-seat commuter plane that took off from the small airport in Blenheim, where there are no pre-flight checks.

   Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the government would not extend pre-flight passenger screening for domestic air travel but would tighten up flight deck security instead.

   'The cost to extend screening, estimated at 160 million New Zealand dollars [94.4 million US dollars] over 10 years, is prohibitively expensive and creates costs for airports, airlines, government and ultimately passengers,' he said.

   Instead, the government would strengthen existing cockpit doors on aircraft with more than 30 seats and investigate installing cockpit doors on 19-seat aircraft, which at most have a curtain separating passengers from crew.