"Ministers have been accused of putting lives at risk by failing to order X-ray style body scanners at British airports despite fears that al-Qaeda is planning a wave of syringe bomb attacks on planes.

The scanners, which could have thwarted the attack by the Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, are already in use in countries including America and Germany, and on Wednesday the Netherlands and Nigeria announced they would follow suit.

But the Government said it had “no immediate plans” to deploy them, leading to accusations that ministers had been “caught napping”.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that four of the £100,000 full body scanners are in storage at Heathrow Airport, following a previous trial, but airport staff are not authorised to use them."

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"Global air passenger and freight demand are rising, but both are still way below pre-crisis levels and Europe's weak economic recovery is pulling it behind international rivals.

...In the air freight market, Europe's lag is even more pronounced. Asia-Pacific's freight carriers saw a 14.5 per cent jump in demand, thanks to the success of stimulus packages in boosting industrial output. Latin America's 17.5 per cent growth, the Middle East's 21.4 per cent and the 13.6 per cent rise in the US are all linked to the rise in demand in Asia. Meanwhile, Europe's carriers recorded a 5.6 per cent fall in demand.

"Freight is a leading indicator that the world is starting to trade," said a spokesman for Iata. "There is some encouragement from freight traffic, but not in Europe, partly due to local economic conditions, partly because it is not a hub for the long haul routes into and out of Asia-Pacific."

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"It's not every day a a major new aircraft takes the skies for the first time, but today's special: Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is currently taking its very first test flight over the skies of Everett, Washington."

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