Airlines Suspend Operations From Peshawar Pakistan

Three airlines from the Middle East– Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways – have suspended their operation from Peshawar airport in northwest Pakistan citing security reasons.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George said the three airlines had stopped their operations to and from Peshawar airport”temporarily”.

“The airlines have not given any specific reason for suspending their operations but they have assured us that it will be for a few days only,” George said.

However, an employee of Gulf Air told PTI that the airline had made the decision following news reports that the Taliban might try to target commercial aircraft. The reports said some detained militants had disclosed the Taliban&aposs plans in this regard.

The three airlines will divert their operations to Islamabad airport.

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Passenger Arrested For Bomb Threat At St. Louis Airport

An airline passenger was arrested after authorities say he made a bomb threat when flight attendants asked him to close his laptop computer before takeoff.

The man was on board a United Express flight to Washington Saturday afternoon at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Airport spokesman Jeff Lea said that when attendants asked him to close his laptop, “he mentioned a bomb or made a bomb threat.”

Police were called, and the man was arrested. The flight was delayed more than two hours while police searched the plane for explosives but nothing was found.

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India Hijack threat: Security Stepped Up At All Airports

With the Centre receiving intelligence inputs about terrorists’ plan to hijack a plane or take control of non-functional airports or abandoned airstrips for aerial attack, the CISF has further heightened security at all airports where its personnel are posted. It has also held consultations with state police to beef up the perimeter security.

The civil aviation ministry has also alerted states and UTs over proper security of non-functional airports. CISF, in turn, on Friday briefed home ministry officials about the measures being taken by it.

CISF, an official said, had been on high alert ever since it received intelligence inputs earlier this month suggesting terrorists’ gameplan of using the air route. “The civil aviation ministry has circulated some instructions to all the airports,” home minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the Cabinet meeting on Friday. He, however, did not elaborate.

All airports across the country have been on a state of high alert with civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar writing to states and UTs to secure all airports and airstrips under their jurisdiction. There are about 340 airports and airstrips in the country, many of them non-functional. A large number of these airstrips are of World War II vintage.

Besides securing the airports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) have also issued instructions for additional layers of personal and hand-baggage checking before a passenger boards an aircraft. They have also given directions that the strength of sky marshals be increased and they should be put on more flights, rather than on the already identified sectors like those in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.

With Lok Sabha elections nearing and the use of helicopters increasing, the DGCA will soon issue a new set of security guidelines for helicopter operators to report mandatorily to the local police before making landings at any unscheduled place.

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Gangs Infiltrate Canada’s Airports – Provide Breeding Ground For International Terrorism

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