The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier will be the first US airline to deploy CT technology at a TSA screening checkpoint, Isom said in a letter to employees Tuesday about the new joint initiative.
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Each airline at an airport would have its own security line, so that once travelers have checked in at the airline’s counter, they would proceed to that airline’s security area. There will also be automated belts for managing bins, a method for easily separating flagged bags for further investigation, and pairing a photo of a bag’s exterior with the X-ray image of its contents. TSA says 3D CT technology could make it possible to allow passengers to leave liquids, gels and aerosols, as well as laptops, in their carry-ons, resulting in less bin usage and quicker through times.
“In partnership with the TSA, American is spending almost $5 million to launch an innovative initiative that will bring state of the art screening technology to several of our hubs”, Robert Isom, American’s chief operating officer, says in a memo explaining the project to the airline’s employees.
American will spend $5 million on the changes, said the airline’s chief operating officer, Robert Isom, in a letter to employees.
CT scanners are already being used in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and London’s Luton Airport. It took about 20 minutes to screen the passengers who were in line, and the incident was not reflected in the average wait time for LaGuardia, she said. The new bins will use unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags while they go through the screening process, which is expected to improve accountability and avoid the “that’s not mine” claim.
The CT bag-screening technology will be deployed at a Phoenix TSA screening checkpoint as a pilot programme that is scheduled to start by the end of this year.
The bins you put your carry-on bags in will be 25 percent larger.
The TSA expects to install the lanes in Chicago (O’Hare), Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Miami. For example, over 100 Transportation Security Officers and TSA volunteers transferred from around the country to fill in at screening operations at the seven busiest airports.
Security lines at the airport have been a constant headache and a source of anxiety for years.
“Neither initiative is a slam dunk to solve TSA woes, but they are both huge steps in the right direction”, he said.
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The intent is to expedite the screening process and shorten wait times for air travelers.
