PHOENIX, AZ - MAY 24: People walk through the Phoenix airport on May 24, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has come under renewed criticism from government officials and the general public following an escalation of wait times at security screenings at domestic airports as the summer travel season begins. Kelly Hoggan, the Transportation Security Administration's head of security operations, has been put on paid administrative leave pending reassignment. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==
NEW YORK: The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is taking steps to shorten airport lines including moving officers to different posts, but still lacks the staffing to handle peak travel times, Administrator Peter Neffenger said in a Congressional hearing Wednesday.
A shortage of staff and a surge in air travelers have created a nightmare scenario for TSA, with airport wait times in places like Chicago stretching beyond two hours. Neffenger said TSA’s insufficient preparation in Chicago was a “failure.”
Neffenger said TSA was seeing how it could re-deploy officers who are trained to detect irregular passenger behaviour to posts where they check traveler documents, thereby freeing up others to staff screening machines. It also wants to move part-time agents into full-time work.
“There are efficiencies we can gain in the way we deploy our people,” Neffenger said.
TSA is projected to screen some 740 million people at US airports this year, up almost 100 million from 2013, Neffenger said. Yet TSA’s staffing has fallen more than 12% in that time to around 42,000.
TSA is evaluating whether to ask Congress to let it reallocate more money for hiring, according to Neffenger.
Earlier this month it was granted approval to put US$34mil (RM139.4mil) toward paying extra overtime and hiring 768 new staff by June 15.
TSA has come under pressure from US airlines and airports after it made a decision last year to stop pulling travelers randomly into faster “PreCheck” lanes that do not require them to remove their shoes and other items, prolonging wait times.
The US Travel Association said Wednesday that nearly 22% of those who had planned trips this summer will delay or cancel their itineraries or at least avoid air travel because of long airport waits, adding that this would cost the US economy US$4.3bil (RM17.6bil) in lost travel spend.
While the summer remained a challenge, Neffenger said, TSA was looking at making security more efficient in the long run.
TSA wants to encourage airports to automate the movement of bins for carry-on bags at checkpoints. A test of the technology - already in use in Europe - started this week in Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport.
It also is working with software companies to determine how screening machines can better detect prohibited items, and it is hoping to contract new vendors that can enroll more people in “PreCheck” by bringing down fees, Neffenger said. - Reuters
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