The civil aviation authority said on Thursday that stricter security checks would soon be implemented to guarantee passenger safety.

The announcement came in the wake of a foiled terrorist attempt on a Beijing-bound passenger plane last Friday.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said in a new release that the new measures include increasing hand luggage inspections and body checks, as well as ending express check-in services currently enjoyed by frequent flyers.

The CAAC is also drafting more rules to ban carry-on liquid items on domestic flights after at least two liquid-filled cans smelling of alcohol were found in the foiled plot.

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For passengers on international and regional flights, security check rules will remain unchanged, the authority said.

At present, according to rules adopted last May, all liquids carried in hand luggage on international flights must be held in containers with a capacity of no more than 100 milliliters.

The containers should be placed in a transparent, resealable bag with a maximum capacity of 1 liter.

Each passenger will be allowed to carry just one bag.

Exemptions will be made for baby milk and baby food in the baby's presence as well as medications with prescriptions.

Although domestic flyers have previously been subject to more lax security checks, stricter security checks than those before international flights are likely to be introduced in the not-to-distant future.

The CAAC declined to reveal any details of the new rules yesterday, but the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported that all bags containing liquids of any description, even those containing baby milk, would all have to be checked in.

The report suggested that parents would have to request formula when buying tickets, and flight attendants would in turn provide it.

Some local airports confirmed they had already tightened security before the CAAC news release.

Gao Zhengpu, an official with Shanghai Airport Authority, said that the two airports in the city had both tightened their security check.

"Security staff open up and smell every bottled liquid in carry-on bags," he was quoted as saying by Oriental Morning Post.

According to Gao, greater security checks have slowed passenger flow.

Every 10 minutes, no more than 15 are checked through, as opposed to 30 every 10 minutes previously.

Zhu Kelin, an official with the East China branch of the CAAC, told China Daily that the administration would soon issue detailed implementation measures.

(China Daily March 14, 2008)