A wide test of new automated screening technology that could speed up scanning at airports was announced this afternoon by American Airlines and the Transportation Safety Administration.
A version of the system has already been tested at one airport, and will now be rolled out at American’s security areas at Chicago O’Hare, DFW, Los Angeles and Miami, with more to come if successful in reducing delays. American has invested $5 million in the test.
American has also put $21 million into bin-running and other initiatives in which airline employees handle routine chores leaving the TSA people to concentrate on screening.
According to the TSA/American announcement, here’s what the changes will look like:
- Automated belts that draw bags into the X-ray machines, returning the bins back to queue after completion of the screening.
- Bags with a potential threat can be directed to a separate area to allow bins behind it to continue through the system uninterrupted.
- Property bins that are 25 percent larger than the bins in regular screening lanes.
- Unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that are attached to each bin to allow for additional accountability of items as they transit throughout the system.
- Cameras that capture photos of the outside of the bag, which is linked to the X-ray image of the bag’s contents.
For more information and detail in the announcement, click HERE
Photo: Jan Paluska / Wikimedia
This sounds like a nice idea. A modernization of a tedious process. Hope it works!