Germany and Canada to have air marshals on India flights to counter terrorism
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After the United States decision of keeping flight marshals in the flights flying into and outside India long back in 2003, Germany and Canada are likely to sign the same pact to have their marshals on board from now on.German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October.
"With Germany, we will be signing it soon. No dates have, however, come for the MoU with Canada," a civil aviation ministry official told The Economic Times on condition of anonymity. Officials explained that the pact between India and Germany allows both countries to have air marshals on board Indian and German flights.
A decision on a pact with German authorities was taken in April last year at the Indo-German Working Group on counter terrorism, where it was decided to cooperate with each other regarding the deployment on armed law enforcement officers on flights.
Former airline pilots say the presence of sky marshals on board gives confidence to the commander of the flight. "The reason these countries want India to sign an MoU is because of the threat perception they have about India, which may not be true, but it's their perception," said Shakti Lumba, a former pilot and former head of operations at IndiGo.
Presence of air marshals on board is a comforting factor for any pilot. According to the rules now, the pilot is isolated from the cabin in case of an eventuality and the presence of air marshals provides them the comfort that there's someone to protect the passengers.
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While the concept of placing in air marshals was started by the US in 1968, India started placing air marshals after the hijack of an IA flight (IC 814) flying between Kathmandu and New Delhi. As of today, India puts marshals on flights to SAARC nations and various destinations within the country. India puts sky marshals on a minimum of 1,200 flights a month.
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