IATA is pressing for improvements in checkpoints at airports in a document outlining the impact of the events of 11 September 2001, and detailing the organisation's vision for a future security control system.
In the document IATA said that governments must "focus on the probable and not all that is possible", avoiding "knee-jerk reactions" and accepting that fully risk-free security is not achievable.
"Governments need to embrace a risk-based approach to security screening," it added, and remove the "hassle" between check-in and boarding.
Current systems, it said, were aimed at deterring hijackers and are geared towards detecting metallic weapons.
"While processes have been enhanced and new technology grafted into the checkpoint, it remains largely unchanged," IATA added. "Screening is one-size-fits-all with no differentiation based on the level of risk."
It has proposed a future checkpoint which would classify passengers according to risk assessment: speeding clearance for registered "known travellers", giving regular passengers a routine check, and providing a separate security lane for those identified as requiring enhanced checks.
Passport information would determine to which lane a passenger is directed. "A random element will ensure that it is impossible to cheat the system," said IATA.
Advanced technology would then come into play: biometric identification, chemical detectors and X-ray equipment which would ideally eliminate the need to remove computers, clothing and liquids, and reduce the need for a physical search.
Some of the components are already available, IATA said: "Several countries are already preparing their own 'known traveller' projects for launch."
IATA added that governments are "obliged" to meet the financial cost of security threats, pointing out that the expenditure in 2010 amounted to $7.4 billion, including $2 billion for passenger operations.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news