Air Transport

By Jeremy Slater in Brussels

The future of airline security measures following the arrest of alleged terrorists in the UK was debated at the European Commission last month at a meeting of airline and airport executives.

Some airlines want harsher guidelines on the carriage by passengers of liquids and electronic equipment, while the issue of passenger data profiling returned to the spotlight because of a clash between a European Court ruling on privacy and the USA's demand for more data.

Security experts from France, Germany and the UK were keen to push for tighter controls while other representatives wanted less- disruptive solutions. "Although there were no real outcomes we did consider new proposals on passenger data, among other things," says the EC. The European Court of Justice recently ruled that European legislation on data gathering was drafted on the wrong legal basis.