ASEAN airports discuss security impact on duty-free

Gavin Lipsith

Print Article E-Mail Article E-Mail Author

The ASEAN International Airport Association is to form a task group to discuss the potential impact of new security measures on duty-free sales

Representatives of international airports across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—incorporating Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—met in Bali yesterday (November 30) to discuss the possibility of banning or restricting passengers from carrying liquids onto planes. The meeting of the ASEAN International Airport Association concluded with a decision to appoint a task force to discuss the impact of further restrictions, including on duty-free sales at the region’s airports.

Indonesia’s state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II commercial and development director S. Tulus Pranowo said that the effect on duty-free sales of liquids including fragrances and liquor must be carefully considered. He added: “The most important issue discussed in the AAA meeting was flight safety, particularly that related to a ban and/or restrictions on plane passengers to carry liquids or jellies.”

The participants agreed to form a task force and appointed Thailand as the organiser to discuss the matter. The task force would try to find a solution to the problem and report back to the 26th AAA meeting, to be held in Laos in 2007.

Indonesian Transportation Ministry director general of air transportation M. Ikhsan Tatang said that although flight security and safety would be intensified, this did not mean that passengers would find it difficult to carry the goods, and that it was necessary to find the best possible solution so that the interests of passengers, airline companies and airports would not be disturbed.