"Harrisburg International Airport May Use Private Screeners"

Friday, May 19, 2006

Harrisburg International Airport May Use Private Screeners
By Dan Miller
The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News


An official at Harrisburg International Airport wants to explore the
possibility of having federal baggage screeners work for a private company,
a move that would give HIA more control over scheduling and hiring
decisions.

"Right now we can't tell them when to open or when to close" a
baggage-screening line, HIA Aviation Director Fred Testa said.

The screeners are federal employees who work for the Transportation Security
Administration.

"If a new airline starts here tomorrow, I still have the same TSA
screeners." Testa said. "I don't want lines. It might take six months to a
year to get an increase in people. If I am the contractor, I can hire people
right away, faster than the federal government."

In 2004, Congress gave airports the option to apply to the TSA to hire
private contractors to handle baggage screening. The TSA retains regulatory
oversight.

Seven of the more than 400 commercial airports that could apply for the
change have done so. Five of those airports were part of a pilot study.

Testa considers it significant that all five airports continued to use
private contractors. The five are San Francisco International, Kansas City
International, Greater Rochester International in New York, Jackson Hole in
Wyoming and Tupelo Regional Airport in Mississippi.

"They must see some benefit," Testa said. "The fact that only seven of 400
have applied doesn't mean it's a bad idea. The bureaucracy may be far more
daunting than anybody thought."

The airport in Sioux Falls, S.D., also has applied, and another airport
withdrew its application, according to the TSA.

Since floating the idea, Testa said, he has been contacted by 11 private
screening companies, by airports in Denver and Minneapolis, and by the
International Air Transport Association. The association is a worldwide
trade group that represents airlines.

HIA screeners who are federal workers would be assured the first option on
jobs, which would have comparable benefits. "No one will lose their job,"
Testa said, referring to rank-and-file screeners. He added that he would
hire his own managers.

TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser said changes in the rules were made so airports
could add screeners faster by hiring them locally. Before, all hiring was
centralized.

Kayser agreed that federal screeners would become employees of a private
company if the airport opted for the change. It is less clear whether
existing management could be replaced, he added.

Testa said the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns the
airport, would have to make a final decision to follow through with the
idea. Testa has outlined the concept in a memo to TSA workers.

HIA has about 62 screeners, said Charles Chase, the TSA director in
Harrisburg. Roughly four in five are full-time workers and the rest work
part time. Four are managers.

Early weekday mornings are the peak periods, Chase said. The average wait
time for passengers in April was 2.8 minutes, compared to 3.3 minutes for
similarly sized airports, he said.

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