The US Transport Security Administration (TSA) announced that air travelers from Saudi Arabia and 14 other countries will be subject to extra security checks and advanced baggage screening, before they board airliners headed for the US. The new security measures come into effect on the Monday following the attempted bombing on Christmas day of an aircraft bound for the United States. An embassy spokesman in Riyadh said complete details of the new security procedures will be published on the US Embassy website.
The new security procedures require that all passengers from the fourteen countries be patted down and their carry on luggage searched, and they may also be subject to advance explosives detection or imaging scans. Chief of the Al-Tayyar Travel Group, Nasser Al-Tayyer, said “I don’t support the new security check system. It will reduce air traffic between the US and Saudi Arabia. The new measures will create more difficulties for travelers to and from the kingdom.”
