Ascsa mum as airlines demand action on security

'The ball is now firmly in the Acsa (or government) court' Alan Peat THERE ARE sudden sounds of silence in the airline industry about their valuable goods (VAL) services with "valuable goods" and "security" being ultra-sensitive issues at the moment. This follows an FTW investigation of the two recent, major armed robberies at Lufthansa and KLM premises at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) and the fact that the two airlines had immediately slapped a ban on cash and valuable goods transport in-and-out of the airport. Until the Airports Company of SA (Acsa) airport security is sufficiently proven in practice, it's not a safe place for us to fly cash and valuables, was the gist of the comment by the two carriers. Indeed, Sanjay Towari, KLM Cargo's director of secure logistics at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, even went so far as to suggest that - if Acsa is not up to the job - the police and army could be called in. These para-military statements are no more than a reaction to the truth. Sub-machine guns and automatics are common play in recent robberies at the airport and security needs to have a para-military presence, as well as a working permit access system, and internal control of the airside and immediate landside areas of the airport. The major airlines have all stressed to FTW that they have done everything within their powers to jack up all their own security systems and the ball is now firmly in the Acsa (or government) court. When FTW questioned major airlines on the international air routes about VAL we were met with a deafening hush. "Off-the-record" however, we were told that "VAL and security" are very high on all the airlines' agendas and that it's a matter of some discussion amongst all the airline executives. But there is so much collusion, corruption and "insider" involvement behind the major heists of recent times - and insurance claims are getting so awfully multi-million (and in US dollar terms, to boot) - that these are subjects no-one is prepared to talk about. FTW has also tried Acsa for a comment from their standpoint but calls are just not being returned. All of our anonymous airline executives were however adamant that a major restructuring of airport security was vital - "Or else!"