Baggage to be bar-coded for aircraft safety

All baggage in aircraft holds for international flights will be screened electronically by 1996, Lord Caithness, the Minister for Aviation, said yesterday. Also, from July this year, all baggage will be bar coded enabling it to be identified at all parts of its journey on the way to an aircraft.

John Prescott, Labour transport spokesman, said: 'US airlines have been screening international luggage since 1987. Why should British aviation security take nearly a decade to catch up?'