"JAA changes direction on screeners"

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

JAA changes direction on screeners
'Security well in hand,' executive director says
By GREGORY RICHARDS 
The Jacksonville (FL) Times-Union 


The Jacksonville Airport Authority will not ask the Transportation Security
Administration to replace federal passenger screeners at Jacksonville
International Airport with those hired by private companies, authority
Executive Director John Clark said Monday.

Beginning Nov. 19, airports can ask the TSA to make the switch provided that
they demonstrate that security won't slip, according to a provision written
into the legislation that created the federalized screener system. As many
as 100 of the nation's 429 commercial airports may take that option,
according to some estimates. Backers of the measure believe that private
industry's more flexible ways will help reduce screening wait times lasting
40 minutes or more at some airports.
 
At JIA, screening wait times average two minutes, the third-lowest in the
country, said Paul Hackenberry, who heads the TSA's Jacksonville office.
That performance is hard to beat, Clark said.

"Security is well in hand with the TSA," Clark said at Monday's Airport
Authority board meeting. "No sense in going in there and tampering with
that."

In March, Clark held a different view, telling a gathering of members of
Congress, TSA officials and airport administrations that he wanted to opt
out of the federal system. On Monday, he said his opinion had changed based
partly on the results of a cost-benefit analysis showing how the switch
would impact the authority. For instance, the authority would have to
purchase liability insurance. And Clark had planned to set up a subsidiary
to manage the screeners. Florida law doesn't allow government authorities to
do that.

"It's like anything else -- you have an idea, you pursue it, you do the due
diligence," he said. "Some things work out and some don't. This is one that
we decided for the time and energy and capital that we would put into it,
we're better served leaving it like it is."

Clark said the authority will work with the TSA to do whatever it can to
help the screening process.

"It shows that the partnership between the TSA and the Airport Authority is
working very well," Hackenberry said of Clark's decision. He said Clark's
decision will boost morale among TSA's Jacksonville screening force, which
ranges in size from 160 to 200.

For those airports that are allowed by the TSA to opt out, the TSA will hire
a private contractor to recruit, hire and train the screeners and to provide
direct oversight. However, the privately hired screeners will be held to the
same standards as federalized screeners, and the TSA would oversee the
screening.

A TSA report released earlier this year found that "there is no evidence
that any of the five privately screened airports performed below the average
level of federalized airports." As a test, five airports across the country
were permitted to use privately hired screeners beginning in November 2002.

Security has been tightened greatly at U.S. airports since Sept. 11. Before
then, private contractors hired by the airlines handled security operations,
with oversight by the Federal Aviaton Administration.

Estimates on how many airports may choose to opt out vary. U.S. Rep. John
Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House of Representatives Aviation
Subcommittee, expects that 100 airports may choose to opt out. But Stephen
Van Beek, executive vice president at Airports Council International, a
trade group in Washington, D.C., said that 20 to 30 of the organization's
150 U.S. members have shown interest in replacing the federal screeners.
Many airports will wait to see more specifics from the TSA before making a
choice.

"Most airports at this point are still on the fence because there are some
issues regarding legal liability, the funding of opt out and the degree of
flexibility," Van Beek said. "It's sort of unclear at this point how many
are going to apply."

But, Van Beek said, there is one clear benefit by giving airports a choice.

"In everything, we think a little competition is a good thing."

BY THE NUMBERS

JAA survey

The Jacksonville Airport Authority released the results of its biannual
customer satisfaction survey Monday. The $5,000 study polled 413 fliers at
Jacksonville International Airport in August. Among the results:

   28 percent of fliers rank JIA overall as "excellent" vs. 20 percent in
August 2003.

   81 percent of fliers said their flight was on time vs. 89 percent in
August 2003.

   41 percent said JIA was "better" than other U.S. airports vs. 50 percent
in August 2003.

   24 percent said baggage claim delivery times had improved over the last
six months vs. 22 percent in August 2003.

Highest rated services: "Feeling safe in terminal," security checkpoint,
courteous skycaps and bag handlers, cleanliness of parking facilities,
signage.

Lowest rated services: Food and beverage, gift shops, shuttle busses, bus
stops, seating at the gate.


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