TSA will order 100 scanners from INVN
US May Make Airlines Match All Bags to Passengers
Feb 5 7:05pm ET
By John Crawley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government may close a loophole in its aviation security plan by
requiring airlines to match all checked luggage with passengers on every domestic flight, a senior
Transportation Department official said on Tuesday.
John Magaw, head of the newly created Transportation Security Administration, told a Senate hearing
that his agency would launch a pilot program to see if 100 percent bag matching could be accomplished
without adding more passenger inconvenience and delaying flights.
The big airlines opposed such a move, saying it would seriously disrupt their system of hubs, which
are airports where domestic airlines route passengers to connecting flights.
Full bag matching is already done on international flights.
Separately, Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson told the same panel, the Senate
Commerce Committee, the department plans to order 200 more machines that can screen checked bags
for bombs from two vendors, InVision Technologies and L3 Communications .
Those vendors, which would make 100 machines each under a new contract, are the only two
companies certified by the Federal Aviation to make that equipment. They have delivered more than
160 of bomb detection machines to more than 50 U.S. airports in recent years with mixed results.
Jackson also said that a third company, PerkinElmer Inc., was close to receiving regulatory clearance
to make explosive detection equipment for the government's aviation security program. L-3 recently
bought PerkinElmer's detection systems business for $100 million.
Jackson did not give a dollar figure for the orders with InVision and L-3, but the machines cost about
$1 million to make and up to that much to install.
Jackson also said the government would likely utilize a variety of explosive detection technology to
meet a November deadline to screen all checked bags for bombs at more than 400 U.S. airports.
This would reduce the crushing demand for the bulky and expensive baggage screening machines made
by InVision and L-3, and boost prospects for companies that make equipment that is simpler to operate
and integrate with airport infrastructure. The Transportation Department rolled out its baggage
security plan last month with great fanfare, saying it had met all conditions imposed by Congress to
account more closely for checked luggage stowed in the bellies of commercial jets.
With a paucity of technology available to screen for bombs and weapons, the government is mainly
relying on airlines to make sure that checked luggage is matched to passengers who board aircraft.
While this strategy would not deter a suicidal bomber, it would by design prevent someone who did not
board a plane from attempting to blow it up with a bomb that could be detonated by remote or by other
high-tech means.
The Transportation Department sided with airline arguments that full bag matching would disrupt
their operations and required only that they account for passengers and their checked luggage on
originating flights.
Critics, including several lawmakers, bristled that the exemption for connecting flights weakened the
entire aviation security program and called it a glaring loophole that had to be closed.
Magaw planned to meet with executives from major carriers late on Tuesday to tell them about the
pilot program and to seek their input on a broader plan for the bag match strategy.
"We want them to give us their best thoughts and ideas because we are going to do it," Magaw said of the
pilot program. "We want a total picture of what we can and can't do." |
