US Airlines not keen on tighter security
From the Houston Chronicle:
"U.S. airline executives told lawmakers Wednesday they can't implement the kind of baggage check procedures required in Europe, insisting such measures would be too logistically difficult to put in place here.
But the members of a Senate panel warned the airline officials that the flying public won't buy their excuses.
Less than two months after four U.S. airliners were hijacked by terrorists, the nation's carriers are under increasing pressure to ensure that no airplane carries a checked bag unless the owner of that luggage is also on the flight.
Under such rules, if a passenger's bags made a flight but the owner did not, that luggage would have to be pulled off the aircraft before the plane could leave.
Appearing before a Senate subcommittee Wednesday, executives from Continental, American, Delta and Northwest airlines argue implementing such procedures would force airplanes to stay on the ground longer and disrupt the airlines' flight schedules, particularly in their hub cities.
To put these safety procedures in place, the airlines would have to downsize even further and lay off more people, the executives said.
"We don't know how to do it and keep the airlines looking the way they look," Donald Carty, chief executive of Fort Worth-based American told the panel.
Delta Chief Executive Officer Leo Mullin said the logistical problems posed by such measures would be "very serious," while Northwest's Richard Anderson insisted implementing them in a hub city would be "practically impossible."
But the carriers' European rivals already practice such bag match procedures. And lawmakers were skeptical that safety measures that could be achieved over there could not be accomplished domestically.
"No one's going to accept that, fellas," said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. "You can say it, but no one's going to buy it. The answer from the public is going to be: Figure it out."
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the Antitrust, Business Rights & Competition Subcommittee, said he could conceive of saboteurs loading explosives on, say, a dozen different aircraft and effectively bringing an end to the airline industry as we know it.
"As long as that's possible, I think you all are taking a huge risk," Kohl said.
Kohl said the airline must be able to assure the traveling public that luggage aboard aircraft is not packed with explosives.
"Now guys, you know that's true," Kohl told the executives.
Airline officials point out that positive bag check procedures would do nothing to deter suicidal terrorists.
Continental President Larry Kellner said he and other airline executives favor installing more bomb-screening devices, known as CTX machines, which eventually could screen all baggage.
Such equipment, however, is expensive. CTX machines cost about $1 million apiece to purchase and even more to install.
And they are slow. Currently, these bomb-screening devices can only handle about 150 to 200 bags per hour.
"That's an airplane per hour," said Jeff Smisek, Continental's executive vice president, corporate.
Continental currently only has a handful of these machines in operation. Expanding their use will take time and money.
Airline officials also noted that since the terrorist attacks, security has been beefed up significantly.
Passenger manifests are screened for possible terrorist suspects. Cockpit doors have been reinforced so hijackers can no longer force their way to the controls and armed flight marshals are on numerous flights.
At the same time, the bags of about 10 percent of all travelers are checked more thoroughly. Some of those passengers are chosen at random, while others fit profiles deemed suspicious."