Pacific Coastal Airlines and other smaller carriers have joined with regional airports in demanding compensation from the federal government for the cost of diverting flights during the Olympics. (CBC)

The federal government is playing politics over airplane flights during the upcoming Olympic Games, small airlines and regional airports in the B.C. Interior say.

Regional airports have to set up special security measures during the Vancouver Olympics or divert their flights to an airport that can provide the high-tech equipment needed to meet federal requirements. For the two months bracketing the Games in February, all flights entering Vancouver will need to have passed a stringent security check, including machine screening of baggage and individual passengers.

The regional airports, many of which don't have the necessary equipment, have been lobbying for months to get the federal government to help with security to no avail.

Few said they were shocked, however, when the tiny airport on Salt Spring Island, off southern Vancouver Island, got full security courtesy of the federal government.

Alan Stanley, who helps run the airport in Trail, said there's only one reason: "Political influence. That is about the only thing we can come up with. It was announced Salt Spring was going to get security clearance after everything was set, and that was it."

Salt Spring Island, part of the Gulf Islands, is represented by Gary Lunn, the minister of sport in the Conservative federal government.

Spencer Smith, of Pacific Coastal Airlines, agreed with Stanley, saying there's no question politics played a role in which airports got security equipment and which didn't. The situation is going to cost his company a lot of money, Smith said.

That's because the small airports that Pacific Coastal services — such as Trail, Massett and Bella Coola — don't have the right equipment to get security clearance, so Smith either has to arrange security himself or divert his flights to bigger airports.

"We have to make alternate arrangements if we want to continue to do business during that period of time, and we're not talking tens of thousands, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars," Smith said.