Sky Marshalls to regularly fly in IA flights

“The IC-814 hijack in December last year could have been averted if there were Sky Marshals on the flight, as they are fully trained in anti-terrorist manouevres. It is a welcome move to introduce them now in the domestic sector,” remarked an official from the airport police.

While these air commandos are in the process of being placed on 37 routes in the domestic network, there will be at least five IA flights originating from Mumbai to other parts of the country.

Styled on the tough security stand adopted by the Israeli airlines El Al, the Indian Sky Marshalls will reportedly travel in a group of three per flight which itself will be randomly picked — say Mumbai-Delhi or Mumbai-Bangalore. “They will check-in at the airport like any other passenger, but with the help of airport security the Sky Marshalls will skip the mandatory X-ray scan as their baggage will obviously contain weapons,” said a police source.

The three Sky Marshalls will then separately enter the aircraft and take vantage seats on the plane, as per the arrangement with Indian Airlines. “Though the Sky Marshalls will only pull the trigger in an emergency, they will first and foremost keep in mind the safety of passengers and pilots. However, they will be extremely alert on flight, closely studying the body language of the passengers to detect any signs of abnormality during a flight,” he added.

IA daily operates 40 flights from Mumbai, and there are 220 daily flights in the overall IA network (including 17 flights outside India). However, at the moment the Sky Marshalls will not be travelling the international sector and will concentrate on the domestic routes.

Strict security measures have been introduced at three points — entrance, arrival hall and ladder point. While every effort had been taken to prevent any inconvenience to air passengers, there would be no let-up in security, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chaman Lal Gupta had recently announced at Chennai.

Gupta added during the recent mock exercise at Bangalore certain lapses were found in the security like how the `hijackers’ managed to take weapons aboard the aircraft.

Out of the 66 operational airports identified in the country for security beef-up, the Central Industrial Security Force has already taken over the security of 11 airports.