manchesternews Planespotters on terror alert John Scheerhout POLICE at Manchester Airport are to recruit planespotters in the war on terrorism. As war in the Gulf started, Supt Paul McIver said he was to hold a series of meetings with some of the 18,000 people who work at the airport to persuade them to be his eyes and ears. But it is the planespotters he wants to persuade most "because they get into every nook and cranny". Every day hundreds of them can be found at the aviation viewing park as well as at other vantage points and police believe they are in an ideal position to spot any terrorist activity. "We are making people aware that they can be our eyes and ears. If they see anything unusual or suspicious, give us a call. We are asking people to be extra vigilant," he said. Airport police remain on high alert but there is no specific terrorist threat, he insisted. Machine guns Police officers armed with Glock pistols and Heckler and Koch machine guns were touring the airport as usual on Thursday. Flights to and from Manchester and the Gulf and the Far East continued as normal. Next month sees the first flight of a new Qatar Airways four-times-a-week service to Dohar in Qatar, while on June 1 Emirates adds a second daily service to Dubai. Both airlines say it is business as usual although Emirates admits bookings are down 10 per cent for the next three weeks. At the very least, however, the war will mean extra journey times for passengers as flights are routed around the conflict zone. Turkish Airlines, which flies from Manchester to Istanbul, says it still plans to increase services from four to five times a week from April 1. British Airways has cancelled services between Heathrow and Kuwait and Israel, but a spokeswoman said the war should not affect services out of Manchester. 20/03/2003 Email this to a Friend Links within ManchesterOnline News from the Gulf --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!