In the wake of the near downing of a passenger airline destined for Detroit on Christmas day, the CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel expect an increase in traveler inconvenience in 2010, especially in cross-border flights.

Responding to the terrorist threat, an overwhelming majority of panel members—more than 80%--favour the introduction of profiling.

Almost as many support an introduction of bonded travel certificates. This innovation would allow frequent air travelers to purchase from government a document that confirms their trustworthiness and that is verified by retina or finger print scanning at the airport, thereby speeding up their processing.

Despite the expected increase in inconvenience to travelers in 2010, such inconvenience may apt to be less of a threat to the volume of air travel than businesses’ desire to control costs, according to the panel.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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