20091226

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Airports and airlines across Europe moved rapidly to tighten security on U.S.-bound flights on Saturday after a man tried to set off explosives on a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Authorities in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands either increased passenger checks or reinforced security measures already stepped up ahead of the busy Christmas and New Year travel period, officials said.

The measures follow a formal request from the U.S. Department of Transportation to airports worldwide to ratchet up security following the failed Christmas Day attack on a Delta Air Lines flight by a Nigerian suspect, officials said.

German authorities said they were considering increasing airport security but hadn't done so yet.

British airports group BAA, which manages two of the 10 busiest airports in Europe -- Heathrow and Gatwick -- said airlines had strengthened security and travellers should expect delays during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

"Passengers travelling to the United States should expect their airline to carry out additional security checks prior to boarding," the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for Aeroports de Paris said the U.S. transport authority had specifically asked airports to search passenger luggage more thoroughly and to carry out extra pat-down searches of passengers before they board U.S.-bound flights.

"We received instructions from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration last night and it's up to the individual airlines to put them in place," the spokesman said, referring to a unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation.