"DFW Airport security system delayed"

Friday, August 8, 2003

DFW Airport security system delayed
The Associated Press


GRAPEVINE -- It will be the end of 2004 before an explosives-screening
system built into the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's baggage
system is in place. 

That's one year past an already-extended federal deadline. 

The airport's in-line system -- a series of conveyor belts that feed baggage
into bomb-detecting machines deep beneath the airport -- will cost an
estimated $165 million. The system for Terminal C is expected to be finished
in June, Terminal B in July and Terminal E in September 2004, the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram reported today. 

"The in-line system will not be available until those dates," DFW Chief
Operating Officer Kevin Cox told airport board members Thursday. 

The Transportation Security Administration has a congressional mandate to
complete baggage-screening systems at U.S. airports by year's end. Airport
officials say that because of delays in funding and the complexity of the
construction at DFW's terminals, work started slowly. 

Congress first mandated a 2002 deadline for screening all baggage with
bomb-detecting machines. The deadline was changed to the end of 2003 after
an alliance of airport directors led by DFW Chief Executive Jeff Fegan asked
for more time. 

DFW will stick to a combination of bomb-detecting machines, dog searches,
manual searches and bag matching while work on the in-line system continues.
As parts of the screening system are completed, they will be put to use,
said Clay Paslay, executive vice president of airport development. 

Fegan said that the TSA has been notified of the extended construction
schedule.


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