Airport Screeners' Hours to be Reduced

December 2, 2003
Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii

Airport Screeners' Hours to be Reduced

At least 100 and possibly as many as 220 security screeners at Honolulu
International Airport will have their hours cut in January. 

Sidney Hayakawa, director of federal security operations at the airport,
said he is not sure how many full-time screeners will be reduced to
part-time status. 

He said he has been ordered to convert a minimum of 20 percent to a maximum
of 40 percent of his 550 screeners to part-time status. 

It is not known how the order from the federal Transportation Security
Administration will affect staffing at Neighbor Island airports. The cutback
order stems from budget constraints. 

Hayakawa said his staff already is short-handed. More than 240 screeners
from all of Hawai'i's airports were laid off or left through attrition after
Congress balked at the size of the TSA's budget. 

The TSA must recognize that Honolulu has a shortage because it has given the
airport 15 additional full-time screeners from Guam for five days during the
peak holiday travel season, Hayakawa said. 

He could not say how the changes might affect lines and waiting time for
passengers. 

The TSA was created in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks to provide greater
security at U.S. airports.



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