Unnerving security deficits uncovered at Frankfurt Airport

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said in a report on Sunday that the European Commission investigators found it surprisingly easy to smuggle banned items past security at Frankfurt Airport.

The tabloid claimed the inspectors posing as passengers were able to carry weapons or other dangerous items past security staff, who work for a privately owned service provider, every second time they tried to do so.

The report also said that if the European Commission is not convinced that Frankfurt Airport has done enough to ensure passengers' security, it could change the German hub's status to a "non-Schengen airport," referring to Europe's internal border-free zone. This would mean that passengers transiting through Frankfurt would be subject to additional checks when entering other European Union countries.

The European Commission has so far declined to comment on the report.

'No place for private security providers'

Chris Yates, a UK-based aviation-security expert, told DW the Bild am Sonntag's claims carry a degree of weight as it is normal for the European Commission to send its inspectors to airports within the European Union to assess security measures.

"It is a scary situation. But what we don't know is how much of the security processes are handled by this private company. It raises the question whether the Frankfurt Airport's security is flawed in entirety or is it only a part. It hasn't come out of the report," Yates said.

It appears that the training of airport security personnel is the major issue, the expert said.

"If people who are manning X-ray machines are unable to recognize dangerous materials then they should be taken out of service and be retrained until they are up to the task," Yates said, adding that the demands were huge due to the threat of Islamic militancy but there could be no compromise on training.

Yates admitted the problem was not limited to Frankfurt Airport: "Wherever you have private firms dealing with security, there are bound to be issues. There have been problems time and again in the UK as well as other countries around Europe. For that reason, I believe there is no place in airports for privately-owned security providers."

Unfortunately, the expert said, things are not much different in the United States.

New measures implemented

But Frankfurt Airport officials say they are up to the challenge. Bild am Sonntag cited a spokesman for Germany's Federal Police, who said they had introduced new measures immediately after learning of the security deficits to ensure that passenger safety was guaranteed.

"We take this seriously," said Christopher Holschier, spokesman for Fraport AG, the company that operates Germany's biggest airport. "A total of 2,500 workers are being retrained, to ensure that suspect objects can no longer pass undetected through security checks," he added.

shs/lw (AFP, Reuters, dpa)