Egyptian airports' security measures stepped up under ICAO standards

A plan for securing airports nationwide is almost finalized in line with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Egyptian assistant interior minister said.

Under directives of Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, all airports were fitted out with top-notch search and security apparatuses used in European airports, Hisham Bastawy said in an interview with MENA on Friday.

A high-level committee, comprising key security experts, was formed to ensure security at airports via fitting airports with needed security equipment.

The action came on the back of the crash of a St Petersburg-bound flight shortly after take off in October 2015, leaving 224 Russian passengers and crew dead.

Bastawy expounded the characteristics of the new equipment installed at airports, noting that the passenger would pass through several stages ahead of reaching the plane to ensure security.

The tight security measures at airports are applied to all passengers whatever their personality or job are, he said.

As for the Russian requests concerning airports security, Bastawi said the Russian requests do not violate the Egyptian sovereignty principles.

He noted that Russian officials had asked Egypt during their last visit to Egypt to apply additional security measures and most of them had been done.

He added that the remaining measures would be put into effect within a few weeks.

Source: MENA