Eleven months after Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked Philip Baum visited them in New Delhi and Hyderabad to hear their tale.

A few eyes were raised when, at AVSEC World 2000, the organisation award for outstanding contribution to aviation security went to Aerodrom Ljubljana. Less than a decade ago the airport was simply one of the former Yugoslavia's provincial terminals. Now as Slovenia's capital gateway, it is not only a highly modernised example of small airport efficiency, but it is also playing the role of regional adviser on security matters to other airports authorities emerging from civil war. Philip Baum visited Ljubljana to see why it deserved such acclaim.

At first glance it would appear that Rinas Airport, Tirana takes security to the extreme. Scattered all over the airfield are some of the 300,000 bunkers that litter the Albanian countryside, remnants of Enver Hoxha's paranoia of invasion. Yet the Albania of 2001 is a very different country, keen to end years of international isolation and prepared to invest in developing its aviation security programme. Philip Baum reports.

On 5th September 2000, the day preceding the 30th anniversary of the commencement of the Dawson's Field hijacks, Philip Baum met with Leila Khaled at the SAS Radisson Hotel in Amman, Jordan. What follows is an edited version of Leila's own story - the story of a hijacker...

Significant technological advances have been made in respect of baggage inspection, but the same has not been quite as apparent in relation to the screening of passengers themselves. Philip Baum looks at some of the systems now available set to become intrinsic elements of airport checkpoints...

The city of Rome is steeped in history. A modern, vibrant city life exists alongside some of the world's most famous monuments that have borne witness to some of the greatest technological developments in bygone civilisations. Whilst the Romans of yesteryear may be famous for their roads, the current inhabitants of the city have set into action a plan that could well place them in future history books for their development of another mode of transport's infrastructure. Italian aviation security is prepared for the 21st Century. Philip Baum visited Fiumicino to look at their state-of-the-art hold baggage screening system.

On May 24th, in Agadir, Morocco, a hijack took place. You may not have read about it in the press or seen it on CNN, despite the presence of senior representatives of a wide number of African and European civil aviation authorities. Two security guards were killed at the gate and a hostage was killed in the midst of negotiations. Despite the brevity of the incident, Philip Baum managed to get to the scene and to file this report, an exclusive for Aviation Security International.

There has been an increasing emphasis placed on the security measures adopted for the screening of air cargo in recent years. The industry has recognised that passengers, whose bags have been screened, are also exposed to the risk of a terrorist bomb being infiltrated into cargo consignments. Yet, all freighter aircraft are not subject to the same procedures. Cargolux is one such airline. Philip Baum visited their home base in Luxembourg to look at their security concerns and to examine their response.

In an attempt to increase the read rate of bar codes on baggage tags and thereby improve the tracking ability of passengers luggage, British Airways has been conducting trials using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags at London Heathrow Terminal 1 over the past few months. Philip Baum and Bill Halkett were invited by British Airways, Ultra Electronics and Texas Instruments to attend the trials.

Susan Rork is the Air Transport Association of America's expert and spokesperson on aviation security issues. Philip Baum met with her to find out more about the role of the ATA and its contribution towards achieving secure skies.