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Welcome to Airport International, an online information resource designed to help decision makers keep up to date with the latest developments in Airport technology. It covers all the latest trends in this changing market and highlights the leading companies committed to providing Security, Terminal Equipment and Fittings, Design and Construction, Baggage and Cargo Handling Systems, Airport Management and Information Systems.

Clearly September 11th looms large in any discussion about the latest trends in Airport Technology. One of the first technology improvements to be made will likely be better scanning technologies at national and international airports, according to industry experts. The catalyst for these upgrades is the fact that the weapons used were box cutters. In the view of some security experts, such weapons and others made of materials such as graphite and epoxy could easily pass through existing scanning systems undetected. Nonmagnetic scanning technology is now available and can essentially perform full-body scanning, although it\'s not in widespread use.

Other technology possibilities include retinal and other forms of biometric scanning as a way of identifying potential perpetrators. For instance, to make retinal scanning effective, a complex and integrated database would have to be created and shared among airports around the world. Many of the leading manufacturers of airport security equipment routinely work with laboratories such as those in Los Alamos and Sandia, New Mexico.

Some next-generation security technologies may not be far off. For instance, some airlines already use facial-recognition systems to check passenger identities as part of their ticketing procedures to identify people who are suspected terrorists.

Facial-recognition technology is already being used in two European airports to augment traditional x-ray scanning and metal-detection systems. However, far from representing an airtight solution, facial-recognition systems have limitations related to identity fraud and the limited number of images available in databases.

According to former U.S. Army intelligence officers, several promising technologies, including biometrics, explosives sniffers and image matching, should be used to augment human security efforts at airports and other public places.