Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 14/01) - For the first time since Tuesday's terrorist attack in the U.S. shut down air traffic across North America, Yellowknife Airport opened to arrivals and departures Thursday morning.

Travellers can now expect to encounter a siege mentality as air carriers and airport officials follow a new Transport Canada order to tighten security.

The first batch of weary passengers was allowed to board flights to Edmonton at 7:30 a.m. They had arrived at the airport at least two hours earlier in order to clear the beefed-up security guidelines, which included identification checks and ticket-counter luggage inspections of all electrical equipment.

"The cows are all out, they're checking my electric razor now," said Jim Mercier, who was awaiting an 11:45 a.m. flight to Norman Wells for a moose hunt.

Mercier was even more apprehensive about passing the airport security gate he had yet to clear.

"I'm not looking forward to it, hopefully they're not wearing rubber gloves," said Mercier. "It's typical, they go from no security to stupidity."

Not all passengers awaiting flights said the tightened security is unreasonable.

Amber Sanford and Chris MacWilliam, who were also going to Norman Wells, said despite the added inconvenience, the increased vigilance by airport personal is a welcome sight.

"It's about time. They should be doing it anyway," said MacWilliam, her mind clearly on the four suicide hijackings which killed thousands Tuesday morning in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

"I'm kind of selfish. I don't want to die."

Airline and Transport Canada officials acknowledged at a Thursday press conference that delays and inconveniences are inevitable, but they said it is all necessary for safety's sake.

"Passenger screening will take a little longer," said Kelly Kaylo, director of marketing and sales for First Air.

Identification required

Additional measures will include specific questions regarding passengers' luggage from ticket-counter staff, including the contents of the luggage and who packed their luggage.

Any passengers with baggage that does not match their boarding passes will not be allowed to travel, nor will passengers not carrying proper identification.

"We also ask passengers to confirm their reservations before coming to the airport," Kaylo added.

Passengers from smaller NWT communities will not face the same security measures at local and regional airports, but First Air director of sales Mike Olson warned that passengers will not be allowed to continue beyond Yellowknife without proper identification documents.

At the airport, extra security personal roamed the corridors, and municipal bylaw officers checked identification at the terminal doors.

It was unclear how long the added security personnel will remain stationed at the airport.

According to director of airports Jim Winsor, some of the security measures were expected to be relaxed once a United Airlines flight from Japan -- forced to land in Yellowknife after the U.S. closed its borders Tuesday -- was cleared to leave.

As of press time, the United Airlines Boeing 777 was scheduled for take off at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.