Airport staff around the nation were alarmed to discover that special police units intended to boost aviation security had yet to be fully deployed.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) called on the Howard Government to step in and provide federal police to staff the units, rather than wait for state and territory governments to supply officers.

On May 28, The Australian reported that only 111 of 365 officers promised for the new units at 11 major airports had been deployed.

According to the Australian Federal Police, which will run the units, the promised officers will not be fully deployed until the end of next year - more than three years after they were recommended in the report on airport security by international expert and former British security minister John Wheeler.

TWU national airlines official Scott Connolly said the police units needed to be in place as soon as possible to protect travellers and the nation's 20,000 airport workers.

"It's alarming that two years after Australian Government's own Wheeler review, we are still waiting for these taskforces to be set up at the majority of our airports," Mr Connolly said.

"It baffles us that they seem to be waiting for something to happen before fulfilling the promises that were made to improve security."

"Are they waiting for a terrorist incident?"

The Federal Justice Minister of Australia David Johnston blamed state governments for "dragging the chain" on the initiative.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has said a national shortage of trained police officers was the reason deploying the new airport security teams was taking "a lot longer than anyone anticipated".

According to AFP figures, only Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have fulfilled their commitment to the new units, which were agreed to at a special Council of Australian Governments meeting in September 2005 in response to the Wheeler report. NSW has promised to have its contingent in place in time for the APEC summit in September, and Queensland has undertaken to meet its commitment between July 2007 and June 2008.

The Northern Territory's officers are due to be deployed at Darwin and Alice Springs airports during June and July. But Western Australia has said it will not be able to finish meeting its commitment until the end of 2008.