Improving security at world airports is a far more pressing issue than putting armed sky marshals on aircraft, the leader of Britain's airline pilots' union said.
Both in the developing world and at small European airports served by budget airlines, pilots were reporting potentially serious security lapses, Jim McAuslan said in an interview with Reuters late on Wednesday.
"I think in some countries you see things that would make your hair stand on end," he said. "Things going onto aircraft that haven't been through proper screening, the way in which aircraft are cleaned, people that can mill around the aircraft."
Cargo planes could be just as much at risk as passenger aircraft, he said, and yet little was being done to improve security on them.
Staff working at British airports for example should have to carry much more sophisticated identity documents, he said, suggesting that this could be linked to Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans to introduce a national ID card.
"David Blunkett's idea of having a national ID card should be trailed in aviation, with people who go airside recognised by their iris or their fingerprint," McAuslan said.
Access to airports beyond where passengers are normally allowed should be tightly controlled, but British tabloid reporters have breached security in the past.
McAuslan, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), met British transport minister Alistair Darling on Tuesday to discuss the introduction of armed sky marshals on transatlantic flights to stop potential hijackers.
He said the union was pushing for rigid protocols before sky marshals were introduced. Washington announced last month that it would require foreign airlines to deploy them on selected flights to and from the US
The meeting with Darling had been encouraging, he said, with detailed agreement on the deployment of sky marshals expected by the end of next week, he said.
The union also wanted more details on the training, background and work patterns of sky marshals, he said.
The way in which news of the introduction of sky marshals had been handled, coming unexpectedly immediately after the New Year, caught countries, airlines and pilot unions by surprise.
"It feels as though security initiatives are dumped on us from across the (Atlantic)," he said.
McAuslan stressed it was important not to lose sight of the broader issues.
"The focus has been on the sky marshals and we could take our eye off the ball on all the other things we need to do," he said.
A wider culture change in aviation was necessary, he said, with all parts of the business concentrating and co-operating on security more.
On Monday, for example, journalists from the BBC said they were able to breach security at a small airport at Humberside in northern England, entering through an open gate to film only 100 metres from passengers boarding a flight.
"Did the person who maintains fences at Humberside think 'security'" McAuslan said. "I would suspect not. A lot of the airside work is outsource and outsource to the lowest common denominator."
Security co-operation in aviation was currently limited, he said, mainly because some organisations operated entirely on a "need-to-know" basis. When British airline pilots reported on security lapses overseas, it was impossible to tell whether any action was taken as a result, he added.
"We have 8,000 pilots in our association who go all across the globe. The information that they bring back - there's no way of capturing that at present."
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