"Lack of Space, Money Complicate Baggage Screening Deployment"

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Lack of Space, Money Complicate Baggage Screening Deployment
Airport Security Report


In the race to complete installation of a system to screen 100 percent
of checked baggage by Dec. 31, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
(DFW) is finding out just how difficult the task is. There is a lack of
facility space to install the equipment and there is a distinct scarcity
of government funding. 

Although the airport was encouraged by the Senate Commerce Committee's
approval last week of legislation that would allow waivers of the Dec.
31 deadline at up to 40 airports, DFW continues to face challenges with
implementing interim and long-term baggage screening solutions. 

Having received no response from the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) about two proposals the airport has submitted for
an in- line baggage screening system since March, the airport and a
government- contracted assessment team are trying to balance the two
proposals at once. 

"It's been a little bit of frustration because after doing an extensive
study, with 21 consulting firms and spending more than $2.5 million of
concentrated effort, you are now faced with educating a new team to what
makes sense at your airport," Jim Crites, DFW's executive vice president
of operations, told ASR. 

One major issue is the lack of space. The airport has three passenger
check-in areas in each of its four terminals, with little extra space
available to install more equipment and accommodate more people, Crites
said. The airport is looking into refurbishing unused sections. For the
long-term in-line baggage solution, explosives detection systems (EDS)
and trace detection units will be placed in a narrow corridor used by
the airport's original people mover system. Bags will be routed from the
ticketing area down to the area underneath the concourse. The bags will
be screened and then placed back into the baggage system and routed to
the carriers. 

But as an interim solution to meet the federal deadline, the airport is
taking a terminal-by-terminal approach to baggage screening, which
depends on where the most room exists for large scanning equipment,
Crites said. Some terminals will see bags taken to ramp areas, where
they will be screened by EDS and trace equipment and returned to the
carriers for proper loading. In other terminals, some EDS and trace
detection will be installed in terminal lobbies. After passengers
check-in, they will deliver their bags to the screening area. But the
system may be limited by a shortage of federal funds. The airport has
nine EDS machines in use today, but it will need 60 to complete its
in-line system. 

Once the in-line system is approved, a major hurdle will be integrating
it into the current operating system without major disruptions. Crites
said the airport plans to use the hours from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the
majority of the construction. 

"Given the availability of space during the day to construct a solution,
it would take us approximately 12 months to establish the systems in
place so that you could manually operate them," he maintained. "It would
then take a number of months to fully integrate them into the baggage
handling system. That's just the reality of expedited constructed. While
it might have taken five years for London Heathrow to do all of their
planning and that sort of thing, there's a lot of lessons learned by
them doing that."


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