No changes were seen yesterday at international airports in Syria, Algeria, Libya, or Lebanon, four other countries on the list.
“Everything is the same, there is no extra security,’’ an aviation official in Lebanon said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The changes ordered by President Obama’s administration followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab is at a federal prison in Milan, Mich., and faces a court hearing on Friday.
The new rules led to long security lines in Nigeria at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, where some travelers were told to show up more than seven hours ahead of their Delta Air Lines direct flight to Atlanta.
“Whatever it takes to keep passengers safe, I’m all for it,’’ said Emeka Ojukwu, 46, a Nigerian who now lives in New York state. “It’s really a bad rap for the country.
Asian airports had already ratcheted up security after the Christmas Day attack, but those in South Korea and Pakistan took additional measures.
Yet Europe remains the key crossroads for air travelers heading to the United States, with more than 800 scheduled trans-Atlantic flights a day in 2009, especially from major hubs like London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was using 15 full-body scanners on flights to the United States and Dutch officials announced yesterday they will buy 60 more scanners. In Oslo, US-bound passengers had to show their passports and boarding passes twice at the gate, get their carry-ons searched and go through full body pat-downs.
