Baggage scanners to make trip through airport easier

On Saturday, Charleston International will start using X-ray machines to inspect checked luggage

Charleston International Airport is installing six X-ray baggage-screening machines this week so passengers no longer will have to schlep checked luggage around the terminal lobby.

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier

Johnnie Lynch (left) and George LeBlanc, employees of the Transportation Security Administration, work Tuesday on workflow with the new baggage scanners at the Charleston International Airport. All the checked baggage screening that now takes place in the ticketing area will move downstairs to these six new machines.

The machines will start humming Saturday in the bowels of the airport, far from the ticket counters where security officials now scan all bags bound for the belly of a plane. For the past few years, anyone checking bags would have to check in at the counter and then tote the luggage to one of 14 "trace detectors" nearby.

Debra Engel, the federal Transportation Security Administration's Charleston director, said the lines at the screening machines stretched up to 20 minutes, and the lifting and dragging required took a toll on her 123 employees.

The new machines will scan the contents of luggage, rather than read a swab for trace amounts of explosives as the trace detectors do. They also will eliminate one of the three security lines that passengers must go through at Charleston International before they can enter the concourse areas to board their flights.

"It's not that they work better, it's just that they work more efficiently," Engel said of the machines. "This is not only a great savings for us, but it's a huge impact to the passengers flying out of Charleston."

The government covered the $2.1 million price tag of the new screening technology, while the Charleston County Aviation Authority paid $400,000 to install heating and air-conditioning in its basement. The machines require a climate-controlled environment to work properly.

A federal law required the TSA to screen all bags starting in 2003, not just those carried on the plane.

The new machines in Charleston come from Massachussetts-based Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc., one of three companies that make government-certified screeners. Each machine weighs 3,700 pounds and can scan about two bags per minute.

"The passengers are going to absolutely love it," said airport authority spokeswoman Becky Beaman. "They're used to it in other airports, but it just took time. We just weren't top of the list."

Given current funding levels, some airports won't get similar screening devices until 2024, according to a February 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office. Last year, the TSA spent $524 million to buy and install devices to screen checked bags.

Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com.