LONDON (7th January 2010) Security authorities in the UK and U.S. are planning to roll out whole-body scanners at international airports following the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it began making its descent into Detroit Metro Airport on Christmas Day. The suspected bomber is understood to have moved undetected through airport security at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands.

"Regulatory issues must be addressed before whole-body imaging equipment can be installed at major international airports," according to Ben Vogel, editor, Jane's Airport Review.

"The UK government is mandating the rapid deployment of whole-body imaging systems, but this is a unilateral move because privacy concerns prompted the European Commission (EC) to impose a moratorium in late 2009," Vogel continued. "The government has also not stipulated whether it will help airport operators bear the financial burden of buying the equipment.

"The Dutch are also acting unilaterally by ordering 60 new millimetre-wave scanners at Schiphol Airport, to go with the 15 portals currently in use," Vogel added. "Other European countries, such as France, Germany and Spain, have signaled that only an EC mandate would enable them to authorise the deployment of whole-body imaging at the checkpoint."

Privacy issues have surrounded the use of body-scanning portals in the U.S. An amendment to the TSA Reauthorization Act (currently before the U.S. Senate) would see a ban on using the equipment for primary screening.

"Privacy is likely to be less of a concern to the Obama administration now since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation Security Administration are under clear orders to tighten checkpoint security," concluded Vogel. "Perhaps the more relevant point is that body scanning units are still undergoing qualification and operational testing and have not yet received full certification from the DHS Transportation Security Laboratory."

Jane's Airport Review is a publication of IHS Jane's, an IHS (NYSE: IHS) company.