SPENDING on aviation security will double over the next five years as the UK counters the threat from Islamist terrorism.
David Cameron said the government would ramp up spending on aviation security from around currently around £9 million to more than £18m.
It comes in the wake of the Paris terror attacks and a Russian passenger plane crash in Egypt on October 31, believed to have been caused by an Islamic State bomb planted in the plane's hold at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport.
French national Jerome Chauris has also been charged with possessing an air rifle and a knife following a security alert at Gatwick Airport on Saturday.
The new funding will provide extra aviation security experts to regularly assess security at airports around the world as well as advice, training and equipment to help other nations improve their airport security.
It will also fund research into screening technology and to detect new threats.
The Prime Minister has also ordered a rapid review of security at several airports around the world, in particular in the Middle East and North Africa.
The assessments, due to be conducted over the next two months, will focus on measures such as passenger screening, physical security at the airport, hold baggage and freight screening.
It comes ahead of a meeting of the UK's National Security Council today[Tues] to discuss aviation security policy.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said that transport security was "under constant review", although it is understood no additional security measures have been implemented at UK airports following the Sharm el-Sheikh and Paris incidents.
Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports already use bodyscanners in their security halls to detect passengers trying to smuggle through non-metallic improvised explosive devices.
The machines instantly reveal any concealed objects such as plastics, liquids, and narcotics.
Passengers are also required to remove shoes during security checks following the attempt by "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to detonate a plastic bomb hidden in his shoe during a flight from Paris to Miami in 2001.
Since 2006, airline travellers have also been forbidden from carrying liquids in excess of 100ml in their hand luggage after a plot to blow up seven transatlantic jets using liquid explosives was foiled by British police.
Most recently, in July 2014 passengers flying in or out of British and US airports were required to fully charge phones and tablets amid concern from US intelligence that terrorists were attempting to create a bomb that would go undetected through airport security, potentially disguised as an electronic device.
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