In addition to a threat-based approach to screening, ALPA is pressing for “One Level of Safety and Security” for both passenger and cargo flight operations. Currently, the all-cargo segment of the airline industry is exempt from many of the security policies that are mandated for passenger aircraft.  

For example, all-cargo aircraft are not required to be equipped with cockpit doors, despite the fact that all-cargo airlines routinely transport passengers traveling with cargo. Passenger airliners are not only mandated to have cockpit doors, but the doors must be hardened and resistant to intrusion. In addition, all-cargo flight crews are not required to receive the same security training as is mandated for passenger airline pilots. 

“In 2006, the U.S. government declared that the greatest security risk facing the all-cargo airline operations was a hostile takeover of the aircraft,” continued McReynolds. “Yet, four years later, our country still fails to require that all-cargo aircraft be equipped with cockpit doors at all, let alone those made with the hardened material that provides an additional layer of security and are required on passenger airliners.” 

To achieve a single level of aviation security, ALPA advocates:

- Incorporating greater use of technology and vetting systems in screening of cargo loaded on all-cargo aircraft 

- Installing hardened flight deck doors on all-cargo aircraft 

- Requiring specific security training for all-cargo flightcrew members 

- Enhancing perimeter security for all airport areas where cargo flights operate 

-Increasing background vetting of those individuals with unescorted access to cargo and cargo aircraft