Airports on al Qaeda alert

Security measures have been beefed up in all airports in the country, including physical checking of all passenger baggage, following threats of a possible terrorist attack by the al Qaeda on airports in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The civil aviation ministry has also asked airlines to increase security and ask passengers to reach airports two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights, so that security checks can be carried out.

At present, for international travel, passengers can report at airports two hours before the flight and for domestic travel, about 45 minutes.

Airlines said they were taking steps to follow the government's directive on security measures. But so far, they have not issued any specific travel advisory to passengers. "We are stepping up alertness across airports," said a Jet Airways executive.

However, airlines expect delays in departures as the additional security measures are expected to take extra time.

"Every time there are additional security measures, delays result. We expect some delays in the busier airports," said an executive with a private airline.

"We have to live with it, there will be long queues and we will know in a day or two, once the drill starts whether it will impact schedules or not," said GR Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan.

Says Spicejet Director Ajai Singh: "Of course, there will be delays. We have to see once the new directive is implemented. One hopes it will not be there for long."

A Singapore Airlines executive said it was waiting to hear from the ministry of civil aviation. "We will issue a travel advisory according to the government' instructions," she said. Most international airlines said they had not received any instruction from the government.

The move comes after the director of Trichy Airport in Tamil Nadu received an anonymous letter on Wednesday warning of an attack by the al Qaeda at airports or on aircraft in Chennai, Kochi, Trichy, Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore.

According to the letter, al Qaeda terrorists are plotting to break the security cordon and carry out attacks at airports using sophisticated explosive devices.

Besides, secondary checks of all baggage will be done just before passengers board flights. In certain major airports, entry of non-passengers will also be restricted.

"We are putting in place access control, peripheral security systems and increased passenger and baggage security checks," said Ajai Prasad, secretary, civil aviation, after a meeting with security authorities.

Prasad also said the letter received by the Trichy airport director was in Tamil and said the attack would be on the lines of the terrorist attack on an airport in Thailand. Sources also said the letter mentioned the attack would be in the form of a car bomb or suicide bombing.

The civil aviation ministry has taken the matter seriously and held a series of meetings with officials of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the home ministry and the Central Industrial Security Force. According to aviation ministry sources, additional security personnel will be deployed in airports to handle the situation.

According to Prasad, this is the second terrorist threat to attack the aviation sector in the last few days. He said Jet Airways received information earlier this week that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning to disrupt the airline's flight to London on Wednesday.