Bomb find deal signed | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

THE Aviation Security Service has signed a deal with an Australian company to provide bomb detection systems in New Zealand airports.

Aviation Security Service general manager Mark Everitt said the service has signed a deal with a Sydney-based company for the systems, which would be in place in New Zealand's seven international airports by October next year.

Mr Everitt said on Saturday the systems would be able to automatically detect explosive substances as baggage was taken from an airport's passenger terminal to an aircraft.

The equipment is a necessary part of an international aviation convention signed after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Mr Everitt said the Convention on International Civil Aviation requires all 188 signatory countries to have measures in place to screen outgoing baggage on all international flights by the start of 2006.

He said international passengers are unlikely to notice any change as a result of the bomb screening.

"We don't expect that there will be any change to current arrangements for passengers," he said.

"The screening equipment is largely automated so delays are unlikely."

Mr Everitt said Sydney-based Smiths Detection was chosen because it could provide an integrated system that best met New Zealand's needs.

He said the cost of the system formed part of the Government's $25 million funding to implement the international baggage screening measures.