Airports can do little to stop car attacks

LONDON (Reuters) - British airports will bolster security to prevent future attacks by vehicles but they are limited in what they can do and will always be vulnerable, security experts said on Monday.

Vehicles have been banned from directly approaching terminals since members of a suspected al Qaeda cell rammed a jeep packed with fuel into Glasgow's airport on Saturday.

British airports were already among the world's strictest in policing drop-off and pick-up areas, barring cars from staying more than a few minutes and removing any left unattended.

But it has always been hard to secure terminals before passengers check in, and this is not likely to change.

"You've got a huge number of people who aren't actually flying, the meeters and greeters of this world," said David Bryon, an aviation consultant and former director of British airline bmibaby. "It's a real nightmare trying to manage that."

One option is to establish more checkpoints outside terminal buildings, but they would solve little.

"What you'd be doing is just moving vulnerability from one area to another," said Steve Swain, a senior consultant at Control Risks who was formerly in charge of counter-terrorism at Heathrow Airport for London's Metropolitan Police.

Security experts recommend a series of precautions to make airports safer, if not fully attack-proof.

More guards and police officers would provide a visible deterrent, and "stand-off zones", which vehicles cannot enter, should be expanded in front of terminals, Swain said.

At present, many airports do have such zones but rely on signs alone to keep vehicles away. Bryon expects the government to require the use of barriers that can be raised or lowered as needed, although determined bombers could still get through.

"Ultimately, if somebody wants to drive high speed, break through a barrier and charge at a terminal, it's very difficult to stop them," he said.

Neil Pakey, managing director of Liverpool's John Lennon airport, said he had already decided last year to stop cars and other private vehicles driving right up to the terminal building. Instead, passengers are dropped off at short-stay car parks around 50 yards away.

But he said screening threats outside airports was virtually impossible, leaving them as exposed as any other public space.

"Whether you are running an airport terminal or a shop, or any transport interchange or indeed any public place, we are all faced with the same problem," he said.