23 Feb 2004

Fiji police now trained to act as air marshalls

11:22 am on 23 February 2004

Fiji police have been trained to act as armed air marshalls on Air Pacific flights to the United States.

Air Pacific has four direct Boeing 7474 flights week to Los Angeles and two to Hawaii, which travel on to Canada.

The provision of air marshalls is a United States federal requirement although the Fiji cabinet has yet to approve placing them on Air Pacific flights.

Several countries such as Portugal, Denmark and Sweden have rejected the US requirements saying if there was a security threat, they would prefer to cancel the flight.