MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Yelena Zagorodnyaya)
From August 27, Russian airports will apply new rules to carry-on luggage. The new restrictions will conform to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, which have been in force at the majority of the world's major hubs for over a year. Although no figures have been published about the expense of these measures, the cost to airports is obviously running into billions of dollars. As usual, it is passengers who foot the bill.
The new rules were first introduced after the British security services foiled an attempt to blow up aircraft using liquid explosives, which the would-be terrorists tried to carry on board in separate containers. As a consequence, Britain, the European Union and others declared a moratorium on liquids and several other carry-on items in August 2006. Now Russia has followed suit.
We will not enumerate here the more than 100 items you are allowed to carry - each air traveler must independently (and carefully) study the Rules for Pre- and Post-Flight Luggage Inspection if they do not wish to part with their precious possessions. But owners of mercury filled barometers and manometers need not fear, provided it is "packed into a leak-free container and bearing the sender's seal". Precisely who the sender is, or where he or she should get a seal, is unclear. Or take the allowance of "two kilograms of dry ice for cooling off perishables." What will we cool off - in-flight meals? Liquids are by far the hardest hit. Who hasn't yet joked about the "pre-flight 100-ml shot"? But the new rules are a serious matter, with a price tag of millions of dollars.
What will Russian air travelers have to go through after August 27? Transportation officials are characteristically reassuring. Yevgeny Bachurin, the head of Rosaviatsia (Russian Air Traffic Federal Agency) said the other day that the new rules would not entail direct expenses for passengers. "The airports will be in charge of enforcing the new rules. But all they [airport authorities] have to do is buy zip-top clear plastic bags."
Maybe Russian airport officials will only provide bags, but their colleagues in the rest of the world have done a lot more, and paid dearly for the new equipment and personnel. Geoff Muirhead, CEO of the Manchester Airport Group, said their security-related expenses in the past two years have exceeded 20 million pounds (just over $40 million). The British Airport Operators Association reports that Britain's total spending on compliance with the new requirements amounted to 50 million pounds from August 2006 to August 2007.
In the United States, where the government helps airports pay for the new security systems, budget subsidies in the past year have reached $20 million. A routine way of dealing with these costs is to pass them on to the passenger in the form of additional airport taxes. Most countries have introduced security fees from $10 to $100 per person added to the cost of the ticket. Russians are not likely to escape this burden.
But this is not the only effect of the new rules. Queues are the scourge of the modern airport. Vladimir Chertok, head of Rostransnadzor (the Federal Agency on Transport Supervision), hastened to reassure passengers that the new rules would not make pre-flight check much longer. Maybe this will be so in the VIP lounges. But experts maintain that one passenger pre-flight security check will take three to four minutes longer than the previous 20 seconds to one minute. The lines will last forever. But the loss of time and the inconvenience are not the real problems here. On July 26, the British parliament's Transport Committee announced that long queues were a good target for terrorists. Now Britain is looking for ways to reduce queues.
Duty-free shops, the one blessing left to air travelers, have also come under threat. From August passengers changing flights in Europe will no longer have to give up what they bought in the departure country. For a whole year previously, passengers had to part with tons of liters of duty-free alcohol and perfume. Experts from the European Travel Retail Council (ETRC), which represents the interests of European duty-free shops, have established that throughout the year passengers had to relinquish 1,500 liters of alcohol worth about 25,000 euros every day; since last November duty-free purchases in international airports have plummeted by 40%, threatening the industry with total collapse. Now the EU has allowed passengers to carry duty-free purchases made at foreign airports, provided these are packed in transparent bags and accompanied by receipts (Russia
has the same rules).
This is not an exhaustive list of the possible consequences of the new rules. Coupled with the brusque manner of our service personnel, and the reliably bizarre nature of Russian reality, we may well be in for some unforgettable experiences.
Nor is the armory of counter terrorism measures yet complete. The United States, for one, is seriously discussing protection against terrorists armed with portable anti-aircraft systems.
In the meantime, security equipment manufacturers are adjusting their business plans in the hope of larger profits. Who can tell a cause from a consequence?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
