The appropriateness of today's airport security measures in safeguarding airline passengers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find out whether the user anxiety created by today's airport security measures changes depending on some individual user characteristics. To this end, 904 passengers were surveyed in the sterile area of Istanbul Ataturk Airport International Terminal, one of the crossway airports of the world. The data obtained were analyzed correlationally. It has been determined that, regarding airport security measures, anxiety levels of Muslim and African passengers are higher than those European passengers. Other independent variables that were thought to be relevant such as, age, status and education, have been found not to effect anxiety level. In the light of these findings, it is suggested that security measure procedures, especially biometrics, be supported by technology in order to lower passenger anxiety levels, considering their characteristics. Furthermore, ethically fostering the cognitive development of the security staff, who are the operators and ultimate decision makers of these measures, is considered to be an effective way to alleviate passenger anxiety.