Peter Drissell, Director Aviation Security, UK Civil Aviation Authority, talks to SJUK.

For me, the most striking recent change in aviation security, as in many other sectors, has been the adoption of new technology, and it is the pace and nature of that change that has been astonishing, driven, of course, by huge advances in the power and capacity of computing technologies combined, importantly, with remarkable imagination and a willingness to innovate.

10 years ago, we screened bags using conventional x-ray equipment and people via walk-through metal detectors.

Today we utilise much more sophisticated Computed Tomography equipment, incorporating automated explosives detection systems for screening hold bags, and the same type of equipment is now being rolled out for screening hand baggage utilising ever more powerful detection algorithms.

Once installed, this will be of a huge benefit to enable passengers to carry liquids on board, and to leave liquids and laptops in their bags during screening.

Advanced body scanners are also now commonly used for screening passengers and will soon be the standard screening method at all larger airports.

This injection of new technology platforms into the security checkpoint massively increases our detection capability and our ability to respond quickly to new threats, whilst also improving the customer experience through airport security.

This year, we will also begin to see technological solutions being used to screen all the food and other supplies taken on board aircraft, instead of the laborious hand searching that currently must take place.

The provision of on-board food and supplies is a massive logistical undertaking – one catering site in the UK alone produces some 30 million meals a year for its customer airline.

It is perhaps something of a paradox that the more we introduce sophisticated technology into all aspects of aviation security screening, the more we must play close attention to the human factor.

After all, our whole industry is about people.

We have invested considerable time and resources, in close partnership with industry, to improve the training, certification and oversight of the tens of thousands of people who carry out security-related activities across the UK aviation sector.

All aviation security training providers in the UK are now externally accredited and including the recent introduction of an advanced online system for the certification of security screeners.

How we use humans in the aviation security “loop” will continue to be an important challenge. 

As we look towards the introduction of further new AI-generated technologies for aviation security screening, that challenge will become more urgent and more acute for regulators.

The exponential growth of the cyber security threat will continue to pose a serious threat to aviation, as it does elsewhere.

Our enemy here will be complacency. We should never assume we have ever done enough, or for one second think that adversaries will stop looking for innovative ways to defeat the safeguards we put in place. 

But what I most look forward to over the next year is building further on the outstanding collaborative work that is being done by industry, by us, the Regulator and by Government, working in partnership, to ensure that the UK aviation sector remains one of the safest and most secure in the world.

About the author

Appointed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as its first Director of Aviation Security in 2014, Peter is the Aviation Security Regulator for the UK.

He previously served as Director of Security & Business Continuity for the Home Office.  Prior to this, Peter had served for 32 years in the Royal Air Force from which he retired as an Air Commodore in April 2007.  

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