Publication

In the wake of the 2016 terrorist attacks against Brussels’ Zaventem Airport and Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, alarm bells went off, yet again, about the often unclear demands placed on airport security and how to rectify them. This analysis looks at the Zurich International Airport as a representative example of the ensuing debate and the security measures which were discussed. They included whether to 1) improve the interactions between different security services; 2) expand area access controls; and 3) privilege fast response times over revising basic security concepts. In the end, and for reasons the text’s authors make clear, no fundamental changes were made to the airport’s security arrangements.