Airports' unchecked fear: No security at some of our regional airports

TWO million people a year are boarding planes in NSW without passing security or having their baggage screened.

Ballina security checkpoint

TWO million people a year are boarding planes in NSW without passing security or having their baggage screened, posing a major terrorism worry, say security experts.

Of the 26 regional airports that operate regular commercial passenger flights, just four have screening equipment.

And passengers and luggage are only checked when their flight takes off within 30 minutes of a jet landing or departing, because it is only then considered a hijack risk.

Passengers walk onto their flights unchecked at many regional airports, including Wagga Wagga which sees more than 200,000 passengers a year, Dubbo (171,000) and Armidale (100,000)

Security scanning equipment at Ballina, one of NSW's busiest regional airports, remains dormant because security staff only work part-time in the afternoons and only when jets fly out.

In stark contrast to rigorous screening at Sydney Airport, passengers on up to 12 flights a week from Ballina walk past unmanned equipment and onto the plane without any screening at all.

The airport, operated by Ballina Council, moves about 330,000 passengers a year.

"It is a serious gap," said terrorism and security expert Dr Carl Ungerer from Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"And terrorists will always look for the weakest point in any security system. The current danger is someone taking a bomb on board."

One passenger said he flew often on the 6.30am Rex flight to Sydney from Ballina and had never had his bag screened or checked.

"I could take anything on board," he said.

Former Qantas head of security and emergency management Geoff Askew said airline cost-cutting had had a serious effect on security.

"Some aircraft like the SAAB 340s do not have to be screened," he said.

"Many of these airports are operated by councils and they are going to struggle to fund security. We have a complacent community that thinks it (terrorism) won't happen here, but I think it is inevitable that it will happen."

Dr Ungerer said al-Qaeda had already made several attempts to bomb famous Sydney targets, adding: "It's a matter of time before one of them succeeds."

But airlines and terminal operators say screening all passengers is too costly.

The Office of Transport Security's White Paper, issued in 2009, states aircraft maximum take-off weight is the determining factor for screening in regional airports.

That means that Rex flights which use 34-seater Saabs weighing under 13,000kg are not required to be screened.