In September 2016, delegates from across the Europe gathered in Bucharest to attend the closing conference for the Romanian-led ARMLET project. Lucy Rawlings attended the event to report on the initiative itself and witness first-hand some of capabilities of the air marshals trained as part of this European Union-funded programme.

Airport terminals have long provided protestors with a safe and effective environment for spreading international awareness of an array of issues. More often than not, demonstrations are conducted peacefully, causing little to no interruption of services and procedures, but what are the risks associated with protests in an airport setting? Lucy Rawlings discusses these issues and considers whether our right to protest is impinging on the effectiveness of our security measures.

On 22nd March 2016 special correspondent for the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Ketevan Kardava, was standing at the Brussels Airlines ticket desk at Zaventem Airport when two bombs detonated just metres away from her. In the minutes that followed, Kardava, miraculously unscathed, took twelve photographs of her fellow survivors, which were circulated internationally on social media and in the press. These iconic images quickly became synonymous with the terrorist attack on Brussels, and gave the world unparalleled insight into the nail bomb explosions and their victims. In an interview with Alexandra James, Kardava discusses her experience, the effect it has had on her since and the criticism she has received for taking the photographs.

Dr. Abdulla Al Hashimi is the Senior Vice President for Emirates Group Security who has strived to create a pro-active, risk based security regime to protect one of the world’s most prestigious carriers and to serve as an example of industry best practice. Philip Baum asks Dr Al Hashimi for his thoughts on the threats of today, the challenges of tomorrow and for his views on the steps which can, and are, being taken to ensure a safe and secure aviation industry.

Considerable effort and expense has gone into ensuring that all those who go through airport security checkpoints are screened efficiently. Given the industry’s focus on the search for prohibited items which might be utilised in an attack against an aircraft in-flight, it is surprising that so many of the measures taken are performed a fair distance away from the target itself. It took the events of 11th September 2001 for us to recognise the vulnerability of the cockpit to intruders and it was only as a result of the apparent loss of MH370 last year that spurred us on to actually trying to validate who was on board any flight. So why do we not focus on the aircraft itself and ensure that it is effectively screened, especially in light of the huge concern over the insider threat where somebody who has airside access could infiltrate something into the fuselage. Philip Baum travels to Romania to find out whether we could even X-ray aircraft themselves…and he encounters the Roboscan AERIA.

The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17th July was a tragedy. Naturally, if it is indeed proven that an anti-aircraft missile brought the aircraft down, those who fired the shot bear responsibility. However, the aviation industry must also ask itself the question as to whether it could have taken action to ensure that commercial flights did not operate over eastern Ukraine. Lucy Rawlings investigates the role of the airline, the State and international bodies, such as ICAO, EASA and Eurocontrol, in determining when aircraft should not operate over conflict zones. And, in conclusion, she considers some of the other volatile areas of the world where it may well be advisable to classify air space as being 'no-fly zones'.

Four weeks have elapsed since the ‘loss’ of MH 370 and one of the greatest mysteries of the modern age continues to fascinate people around the globe, perplex aviation industry professionals and traumatise the families of the passengers and crew on board. Everybody seems to have their theory as, after all, airliners simply do not just fall out of the sky. Whilst this incident may indeed turn out to be a failure of the aircraft itself, or have been instigated due to a fire as a result of goods carried in air cargo, Philip Baum evaluates the viability of each of the criminal acts of interference that might have brought about the disappearance of MH370 and considers the security lessons already learned.