The Met's SO19 firearms unit drew up
sky marshals plans after 9/11 but shelved the scheme in 2004.
But Mr Darling has dismissed a suggestion that recent British Airways transatlantic flights had been grounded to force the airline to accept
sky marshals.
A spokesperson for the National Police Agency said that no timescale for the introduction of
sky marshals had been set.
So our new
sky marshals, instead of being a last line of defence in a sturdy safety system, will be no more than a potentially lethal front designed to cover woeful inadequacies of a cowboy outfit.
So far Virgin Atlantic have also ruled out
sky marshals.
Pretory
Sky Marshals logged over 36,000 flight hours on 1850 ANA flights.
The delay came as the concern over the American insistence on the use of armed
sky marshals on some transatlantic flights grew yesterday.
Nothing should compromise passenger safety and unless we receive clear guidelines on procedure regarding
sky marshals we will not fly with them on board.
The introduction of the
sky marshals comes after US aviation put on alert last week amid fears of a new terror threat.
Even though no explosives were found, El Al security staff seated the 28 year-old Londoner next to an armed
sky marshal.
The FAA Federal Air Marshal program is an expansion of the
Sky Marshal program of the 1970s designed to stop hijackings to and from Cuba.
Balpa has already voiced its opposition to the
sky marshal plan and airlines also said yesterday they were unhappy about it.
