"Bag-Screening Staff Shortage Prevents Airlines from Expanding into New Markets"

Thursday, September 9, 2006

Bag-Screening Staff Shortage Prevents Airlines from Expanding into New
Markets
By Chuck Chiang
The Bend (OR) Bulletin


The shortage of luggage screening staff at smaller commercial airports is
starting to hamstring some airlines' ability to expand service in those
markets, officials from two regional air carriers said Thursday.

The problem could prevent airlines from offering more frequency or
additional destinations to places like Redmond Airport, even if carriers
have the ability to do so, those officials said.

A representative from one airline also hinted that the carrier is looking to
upgrade the airplanes used to serve Central Oregon.

Both Seattle-based Horizon Air and St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Airlines
have encountered problems with scheduling new flights at certain airports
due to a shortage of screeners, representatives told a crowd of airport
managers gathered in Redmond. SkyWest flies in Redmond as Delta Connection
and United Express.

SkyWest was recently told by officials from the U.S. Transportation Security
Administration that there aren't enough screeners at Arcata/Eureka Airport
in Northern California to accommodate a third overnight departure, said
Steve Hart, the airline's vice president of market development.

"The TSA basically said, 'We don't have room, so you're going to have to
re-schedule'," Hart said.

Bruce Tecklenburg, director of schedule planning with Horizon, said his
company is encountering a similar problem for a flight scheduled to launch
next March from Santa Rosa, Calif.

"We hope we'll start (that flight) by March," Tecklenburg told the crowd
visiting for an airport management convention.

Tecklenburg added that Horizon may talk to management at Santa Rosa Airport
regarding hiring private screeners to increase security capacity.

The problem is nationwide, said Mike Irwin, TSA's Oregon federal security
director.

Irwin said the agency had 57,000 screeners at one time, but that number is
now capped at 43,000 to encourage the implementation of high-tech screening
devices as a way of dealing with increasing passenger levels.

"The problem is that we've got 43,000 security officers," he said. "That's
it. So if we add some people in one place, we'll have to take some people
away from another place."

Irwin added that the idea of private screeners is interesting and may be
worth further discussion.

The key, whether private screener are used or not, is that airlines must let
airports know of any new service or scheduling at least three months ahead,
said Redmond Airport Manager Carrie Novick.

"Airlines must give us enough time to talk to TSA so we can work with them,"
Novick said. "That way, (new services) won't be delayed."

Security screening capacity isn't the only problem facing regional airlines.
Both SkyWest and Horizon noted the rising fuel prices and increasing
operating fees at larger airports like Portland and Seattle are major
hurdles.

To counter those costs, both airlines say they are upgrading their fleets to
bigger planes. SkyWest is looking increasingly to larger CRJ regional jets
to replace 30-passenger Brasilia turboprops, while Horizon intends to
replace its 37-seat Dash-8s with the 74-seat Q400s by 2010.

Horizon's Tecklenburg said there's a good chance Redmond Airport will see
some Q400s flying routes to Portland and Seattle, in addition to Los
Angeles, in the next year.

SkyWest's Hart said there are no plans on the Redmond-San Francisco flight,
currently flown on the Brasilia, to switch to a CRJ. "There's no question
that there's sufficient traffic (in Central Oregon) to support a regional
jet flight to San Francisco," he said. "But the revenue situation won't
support it. (The San Francisco service) is used mostly by value-seeking
leisure travelers, and that tends to mean lower yield.

"Certainly, two hours on a Brasilia is a long time," Hart added. "But we
simply can't provide that service with CRJs right now. So the choice is
between the Brasilia or nothing."

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