Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (
Yeh made the confirmation in the legislature during interpellation by KMT lawmaker Chen Chin-pao (
"Has any of Taiwan's airlines reinstituted the practice of placing security officers aboard aircraft, since there is much information indicating that Taiwan is a possible terrorist target?" Chen asked as he inquired about Taiwan airlines' preparedness in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
Oliver Yu (
"Air marshals are being installed on flights on major international routes but they are probably unnecessary on domestic routes as Taiwan is not directly involved in the war against terrorists," Yu said.
The airlines confirmed air marshals are being deployed only on US- and Canada-bound flights.
Yu said, however, that the CAA has prohibited air marshals from carrying guns. "The officers can only carry stun weapons. As with the debate on flight safety in other countries, the CAA has to take into consideration the possibility that hijackers might rob the air marshals of their guns and that flying bullets can also damage aircraft, endangering flights."
The CAA said that the decision whether to deploy air marshals on flights was a matter purely for the airlines. "It involves budgetary and human resources concerns," Yu said.
Until 1993, the government required airlines to place security officers on flights out of concern that aircraft might be hijacked to China while cross-strait relations remained highly confrontational.
Since Oct. 1, about 90 CAL flight attendants who previously served as air marshals have resumed their former roles, said Paul Wang, the airline's spokesman. They were all members of military or police forces before joining the airline.
Flights carrying air marshals are equipped with the "necessary tools" to fight hijackers, Wang said.
Wang said extending the deployment of air marshals to flights on routes other than those to the US and Canada was currently impossible because of the lack of qualified personnel.
Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), a spokesman for EVA Airways, confirmed that the airline began the deployment of air marshals on Canada- and US-bound flights in mid-September as a precaution against terrorist attacks.
Like Wang, he said that deploying air marshals on other routes was not possible because of the lack of qualified personnel.
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