DAVID FIELD WASHINGTON
The build-up of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is testing the resources of its parent Department of Transportation (DoT) to the limit, but the new security agency is holding fast against industry pressure to stretch out its looming and "unrealistic" deadlines for full inspection of bags across the nation by the end of the year.
Sceptical airline bosses such as Donald Carty of American Airlines are already pushing hard for a delay to the 31 December screening deadline. By then there is meant to be full baggage screening, including the use of explosive detection systems in 429 US airports - representing more or less all of those with significant scheduled service. All airport screeners too should be fully trained to TSA standards. But the airlines now have Congressional allies in their fight to slip the deadline.
One delay bill now going through Congress is backed by Republican Kay Granger, a Congresswoman from American's home town of Fort Worth, Texas. Her bill would allow the TSA to grant exemptions to airports on a case-by-case basis to avoid what could be massive checkpoint delays.
Granger argues that while 75% of the nation's airports are expected to meet the deadline, the other 25% - which accommodate 80% of passengers - might not because of the costs and logistics involved. Florida Republican John Mica, head of the House Aviation Subcommittee, has attacked the TSA and backs the bill.
However, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta rejects the complaints and is seeking more appropriations for the TSA, having already transferred $270 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which aids victims of floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. "We are at a crisis point in running this vital new security agency," Mineta says. Money is not the only crisis at TSA: so angry was Congress at its budget demands and growing public resentment that it forced its administrator John Magaw to resign.
The budget strain is showing at another part of the DoT, the Federal Aviation Administration. After 11 September, the FAA had to increase security by hiring more guards and installing video cameras and fencing at all its facilities, including more than 300 air traffic control locations.
The agency was unprepared for this bill of more than $200 million. To meet this unexpected budget demand, it froze non-controller hiring and cut back sharply both staff travel and air traffic training to offset those costs by $90 million. But FAA administrator Jane Garvey told agency employees that "unfortunately, these offsets are not enough" because the FAA does not have the flexibility to spread out the costs further. That raises the prospect of lay-offs if Congress does not approve an emergency request for the FAA to transfer $100 million from the airport improvement fund and other sources, says Garvey. Mineta has warned that up to 35,000 air traffic employees could be laid off.
The play off of air traffic against security may not augur well, especially as the security administration's dedication to its deadline looks to make its money demands unmovable. If the airlines are correct, natural disaster spending may well be called for.
Source: Airline Business
