Friday, May 2, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.
Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker and Nevada's congressional delegation want the federal government to take a second look at plans to reduce the number of checkpoint screeners at McCarran International Airport.
McCarran is slated to lose 149 screeners because of a reorganization of resources within the Transportation Security Administration and a proposed budget of $4.82 billion, a cut of more than a billion dollars from last year.
The change could mean longer waits in security lines for those traveling through the airport.
"The proposal to drastically cut the number of screeners at McCarran is completely irresponsible and the result of misguided priorities and poor allocation of resources," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said.
Walker said he was baffled by the plan to reduce the number of screeners at McCarran from 983 to 834.
"There is no basis for this and we want the TSA to look at this again," Walker said.
Walker said that TSA officials are underestimating the fact that McCarran is the second busiest airport in the world, behind only Los Angeles International Airport in the number of passengers originating or finishing a trip.
About 92 percent of McCarran's 36 million annual passengers are going through the security checkpoints for their flights, with only 8 percent of the passengers making connecting flights that don't require a trip through screening, officials said.
McCarran is scheduled to drop to 834 screeners by the fall. In comparison, Orlando International Airport will move from 1,182 to 1,268 screeners.
"Something is wrong when Orlando is getting more even though they have fewer origin and destination passengers," Walker said. "The fiscal year that ended in the second quarter of 2002 shows that Orlando had 21 million origin and destination passengers, while we had 24.5 million."
TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said that an exhaustive study was made of the nation's 429 airports to determine where the cuts had to be made.
"We looked at all kinds of factors including total passenger numbers, origin and destination numbers and (waiting time)," Hatfield said. "This is budget driven, but we decided to look at each airport instead of just cutting 12 percent of the screeners at every location."
Currently there are 55,600 screeners at the nation's airports, with 3,000 targeted to be cut by May 31 and another 3,000 Sept. 30, Hatfield said.
McCarran officials fear the cuts could mean longer lines for passengers. The TSA's goal is to get passengers through screening in 10 minutes or less, but because McCarran runs in "peaks and valleys" of passengers, the waits can already be more than an hour or less than a minute.
On an average day about 60,000 people travel through McCarran, but during peak times, such as Sundays and Mondays, that number can increase to more than 100,000 travelers, McCarran spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.
"We don't know how the TSA will handle it," Grey said. "Maybe they will staff all the lines during peak times and not during the slower times. We just don't know right now."
McCarran Federal Security Director Jim Blair said that there is a model that the TSA uses that sets forth the number of screeners needed at checkpoints. Blair would not divulge what that number is, citing security concerns, but he did say that "the security requirements and practice at McCarran will remain the same."
Another concern for airport officials is the scheduled addition of three new checkpoints in the C and D gate area in June. In addition a $10 million construction project that is expected to be completed by June 2004 is scheduled to bring another three checkpoints to the C and D gate corridor.
The planned reductions in screeners at McCarran has airport officials wondering if there will be enough federal security personnel to staff the new checkpoints.
"We're going to go forward with the additions, because we're going to have the facilities at this airport to treat customers how they should be treated," Walker said. "We want the TSA to do a correct evaluation of the number of screeners needed here."
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks McCarran has increased the number of its security checkpoints from 13 to 22. The A and B gate area has gone from four gates to seven; C gates have increased from three to five checkpoints; D gates from four to six; and Terminal 2 gates from two to four.
Rep. Jim Gibbons said he was most concerned with the TSA's plan to add screeners to some airports while subtracting from others.
"Airports handling a great deal fewer passengers are seeing their TSA staff increase, while McCarran will inevitably be understaffed," Gibbons said. "As Congress continues to debate additional funding for the TSA, such personnel cuts can not be tolerated."
Airports experiencing large cuts include Los Angeles International Airport with 154 reductions, Denver International Airport with 197, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport with 263 and John F. Kennedy International Airport with 396.
The airports that will see the biggest gains include Orlando International Airport at 86, Midland International Airport in Texas with 42 and Des Moines International Airport with 24.
Reno/Tahoe International Airport will continue to have 252 screeners assigned.
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