US to screen all air travellers

THE United States is pressing ahead with a system to screen all air travellers, giving each a ‘red’, ‘yellow’ or ‘green’ rating depending on the security threat they pose, it emerged yesterday.

A test phase in recent months won little support from airlines, but the government will now order airlines to hand over passenger records for inspection by officials. A US Transportation Security Administration computer will run a series of checks, deciding whether each passenger poses a risk.

Red passengers will be banned from flying, yellow travellers will undergo further checks, while those marked as green will pass through the airport as usual.