SYDNEY, Australia (16 Apr 2005) -- Australia's national carrier Qantas Airways will install cameras in baggage handling areas at airports around the country and in the holds of some aircraft after a series of security breaches, one involving a camel suit. In a much publicised security breach last week, a Qantas baggage handler drove across the Sydney airport tarmac wearing a camel suit which he had taken out of a passenger's baggage. The camel suit incident prompted scores of passengers to contact a Sydney newspaper with reports of stolen clothes, laptops and underwear from their baggage at airports. Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the security camera upgrade was a reaction to heightened public concern about the security of baggage. "Significant additional equipment will ensure, as closely as possible, 100 percent coverage of key baggage areas in terminals owned or solely leased by Qantas," Dixon said in a statement. "Our own statistics show that, despite recent publicity, incidents of baggage tampering within Qantas are extremely rare." | | Qantas already has more than 900 closed circuit cameras at airports. The new security measures will apply to nine terminals owned or leased by Qantas in Australia. Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison welcomed Qantas' security upgrade, saying that it "will help to renew the traveling public's confidence in security at baggage handling areas at its terminals". Australian tourism officials declined to reply to CDNN's inquiry about baggage theft at airports in Australia. |
