Four and a half years after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, 94 per cent of passengers (up from 88 per cent in 2005) said they felt confident about the systems in place to ensure air transport security at Canadian airports, according to new survey results, released today by Mr. Jacques Duchesneau, President and CEO of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA).

The most dramatic increase was in the number of passengers who said they felt a high-level of confidence. That margin jumped to 79 per cent of surveyed passengers in 2006 from 43 per cent in 2005.

The survey results, commissioned by CATSA and carried out by Decima Research Inc., are based on interviews with 2,929 passengers at 16 airports across Canada between March 8 and 17, 2006.

“The results are encouraging and confirm that we are on target for meeting the needs of the travelling public by working with our partners to provide one of the best air transportation security systems in the world,” said Mr. Duchesneau.

Mr. Duchesneau speculated that the rise in confidence may result from the fact that travellers departing from Canadian airports are protected by one of the most advanced air transport security systems in the world. “For example, CATSA exceeds current international security standards by screening 100 per cent of all checked baggage on international flights as well as on domestic commercial flights departing from designated airports.”

Since it was established in the wake of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, CATSA added hundreds of additional pre-board screening officers, introduced rigorous, multi-level training programs for all screening officers and deployed leading edge screening equipment, technologies and approaches to safeguard the flying public.

“But,” he added, “threats to air security are always changing, and maintaining world-class protection requires constant improvement of screening technologies and techniques. We are continually evolving to stay ahead of new dangers in order to protect airline passengers. For example, lessons learned from the investigation into the bombing of Air India Flight 182 help to ensure Canada’s airport security systems are the most effective in the world.”
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