Calls for full review of security at Hong Kong’s international travel hub after the incidents went unreported
DANNY.LEE@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 July, 2016, 8:18am
Questions are being asked over the security at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Edward Wong
Pressure is growing for a top level review of security at Hong Kong International Airport after three unreported breaches saw passengers encroach secure areas without authorisation.
The Sunday Morning Post has discovered that on top of three widely reported security incidents at the award-winning airport earlier this year, three more breaches have gone unreported, prompting accusations that one of the world’s busiest flight hubs is suffering a “failure in security culture”.
On two occasions – May 29 and June 3 – transit passengers flying Hong Kong Airlines were able to open doors to airbridges in restricted areas, which should have been sealed.
News of the security blunders follow a string of high profile incidents, including that of a bag delivered to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s daughter from a non-restricted to a restricted area triggering questions about security protocols and abuse of power allegations.
In April, a woman managed to pass through three security checks without a boarding pass or a passport before being intercepted at a far flung boarding gate.
In May, two transit passengers bound for Beijing had boarded the airport terminal’s internal train after arriving from Surabaya, Indonesia but the wayward pair failed to get off at the arrival area, and remained on board as it proceeded to the departure area.
Both the airline and the Airport Authority have confirmed the previously unreported incidents.
Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, a member of the Legislative Council’s security panel, said: “I think the AA and Avseco should critically re-examine whether there is a systemic failure of financial resources, manpower, or training.
“If I was a board member of the authority, I would be calling for a report into the security breaches.”
Former Hong Kong police superintendent Mark Medwecki who worked for Avseco said: “This to me indicates a failure in the security culture.”
The authority said in the most recent blunders the passengers managed to gain access to the airbridges from the arrival level because the doors had malfunctioned, prompting immediate repairs and checks at all other gate doors.
In the incident on June 3, the airline admitted a passenger got off a plane at one gate, opened a door to another but was spotted by airport staff as they attempted to board another aircraft, but was escorted straight into the departure hall without being screened as a transit passenger by security officers creating confusion over which passengers had been through security screening.
On May 28, from 11am until 2pm, around 50 passengers across various low-cost airlines in Terminal 2 were offloaded due to security issues. An airport security source claimed the X-ray equipment was out-of-date and airport security personnel had to recheck the offloaded travellers’ bags manually. An airport spokesman denied there was an X-ray malfunction, breakdown or security breach observed.
The Airport Authority spokesman said of the three new incidents it “has always maintained the highest standard of security measures” in spite of several other serious lapses of security this year.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1987717/three-new-hong-kong-airport-security-breaches-revealed
