Marshals guard Australia-US trips

By Phil Mercer BBC, Sydney

Air marshals are already posted on some internal flights

Australia is planning to put armed air marshals on flights to and from the United States.

The new agreement will apply to Qantas and United Airlines, and follows months of diplomatic negotiations.

The agreement doubles the size of Australia's current international air marshal scheme.

Details of how the new arrangements with the United States will operate have been kept secret.

The number of covert armed guards is expected to vary depending on the size of the aircraft.

Special ammunition

There could be as many as six on duty on some services.

Sky marshals have been stationed on flights between Australia and Singapore since last December.

On domestic routes here, they have been working, usually in pairs, for more than two years and have been called upon on at least one occasion.

The government in Canberra is believed to be negotiating with several other countries including Britain, Malaysia and Canada, to place armed officers on board more international flights.

There are jurisdictional problems to overcome, along with disagreements over exactly where the air marshals are allowed to carry their weapons and when they should remove them.

The guards have pistols that use ammunition designed not to puncture the fuselage of a plane.

The extra security will come at a price for travellers.

The Australian government will share the costs of deploying the air marshals with Qantas.

It is an expense that will almost inevitably be passed on by the airline to passengers.