CAA gets travel security notice

2010-11-03 22:23

Cape Town - The South African Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday that it received notification from the US on emergency amendments to its air travel security.

The SACAA's Kabelo Ledwaba told News24 that the US Transportation Security Administration sent out the correspondence.

This follows the recent terror scares in which US-bound parcel bombs were intercepted in the UK and Dubai.

One of the packages was found on a UPS cargo plane in London while the other was in a computer printer cartridge parcel at a FedEx facility in Dubai.

"Although the threat is not directed at South Africa, we do not take instances such as this lightly since we also operate in the global arena," Ledwaba said.

Ledwaba said that South African airlines had also been informed of what steps to take.

On Tuesday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged global security regulators to work together to make the skies safer by bettering cargo security.

Meanwhile, Britain and Germany have announced that they have suspended all unaccompanied air cargo from Somalia, extending a ban on freight from Yemen.

Berlin, meanwhile, announced that it had extended a ban on air freight from Yemen to also cover passenger flights originating in the Arabian Peninsula country. The bomb discovered in England passed through Cologne, Germany.

The Netherlands also on Monday suspended cargo and mail flights originating in Yemen as a "precautionary measure".

- News24