BA chairman suggests airport security checks are excessive

The chairman of British Airways, Martin Broughton, has insisted that certain airport security checks are unnecessary and should be scrapped. He believes that British travellers are kowtowing American demands for increased security when some of the airport security checks aren't even enforced on internal flights in America.

Mr Broughton commented on the issue: "America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do. We shouldn't stand for that. We should say, 'we'll only do things which we consider to be essential and that you Americans also consider essential'."

Airport security checks have become more thorough in recent years thanks to terrorist threats on flights across the globe. But Mr Broughton believes that the current airport security checks are too over the top. He said: "We all know there are quite a number of elements in the security programme which are completely redundant and they should be sorted out."

In August 2006, a man threatened to detonate liquid explosives on a flight, which led to the ban of liquids over 100ml. During airport security checks, liquids must also be placed in a transparent bag so that they are on view for inspection. Airport security checks were also stepped up in American when a Nigerian man hid explosives in his underwear.

Another procedure that was added to airport security checks was the removal of shoes, thanks to a threat that affected a transatlantic flight in 2001. Richard Reid was dubbed the 'shoe bomber' when he hid an explosive device in his shoes. Travellers don't always need to take their shoes off during airport security checks though.

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