Delays 'unavoidable' as airports strengthen terror security

Air passengers will face delays as more searches are made following the failed Detroit plane bombing, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said today.

More passengers will be searched by hand and have their baggage tested for explosives to stop "inventive and determined" terrorists who adapt their tactics to evade airport security.

Mr Johnson told the Commons that new body scanners would be introduced at Heathrow within three weeks, that staff would be trained in identifying suspicious behaviour, and that all British airports would have to install sophisticated explosives detection equipment by the end of the year.

He said: "It is clear that no one measure will be enough to defeat inventive and determined terrorists and there is no single technology which we can guarantee will be 100 per cent effective against such attacks."

Mr Johnson updated MPs as the Commons sat for the first time since University College London graduate Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, allegedly attempted to ignite explosives in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Gordon Brown has ordered a review of airport security. The Home Secretary said: "Air passengers are already used to being searched by hand and having their baggage tested for traces of explosives.

"The Government will direct airports to increase the proportion of passengers searched in this way. There may be some additional delays as airports adapt but I'm sure the travelling public will appreciate the reasons behind this."