NATION Airports fear cuts in screeners

The initial plan calls or TSA to cut 6,000 screener jobs.
By DAVID ENRICH
and CRAIG LINDER
STATES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- They are the bright stars of American aviation: the airports that saw their traffic and passenger counts continue to rise even as the airline industry imploded around them.
But now, officials with small-but-booming airports, like the one at Akron-Canton Regional Airport in North Canton, say their growth could be short-circuited by a federal plan to slash the number of security screeners assigned to their checkpoints.
The cuts will come as part of a Transportation Security Administration plan to eliminate 6,000 screener jobs after a nationwide hiring binge left it overstaffed and gave rise to the taunt that federal agency's initials really stood for "Thousands Standing Around."
Average reduction
The TSA says the average airport will see 13 percent of its screener positions eliminated, but the cuts seem to go far deeper at growing airports like the one serving Manchester, N.H., which has surged as Boston-area travelers have sought an alternative to that city's crowded Logan International Airport.
Kevin Dillon, Manchester's airport director, said the TSA's decision to cut 84 of his airport's 200 screener positions will increase waiting times at security checkpoints and drive passengers away.
"With a draconian cut of almost half your staff, there is no way the TSA will be able to have adequate service at Manchester Airport," he said. "Manchester Airport has become a great alternative to Logan. That is being put in jeopardy by moves like this."
At Norfolk International Airport in Virginia, where passenger traffic has increased in large part because of the arrival of Southwest Airlines, officials there fear that eliminating 113 of the 273 screeners could push checkpoint lines well beyond the airport's 10-minute goal.
TSA officials were at a loss to explain why the cuts seem to disproportionately affect airports that have seen increases in passenger counts.
"I can't really explain why the fastest-growing airports are losing screeners," said agency spokeswoman Ann Davis. "There was a method here."
Davis said the number of screener positions eliminated at an airport was based on the ebb and flow of passengers throughout the day and the airport's number of security checkpoints and flights, but she couldn't provide a specific formula.
Lobbying suggested
The trade group that represents airports in Washington, the Airports Council International -- North America, is advising airport operators who are upset with the planned cuts to lobby the TSA to restore the positions, said Steve van Beek, the group's senior vice president.
That's exactly what the local federal security director at the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport in upstate New York plans to do, said Doug Hartmayer, a spokesman for the authority that runs the airfield.
Other airport officials said their local security directors would protest the changes to TSA headquarters outside Washington. Heather Rosenker, another TSA spokeswoman, said the agency would listen to the officials' concerns and could reconsider some of the proposed cuts.
"There could be a mistake," she said. "It could be in the next week that we have completely different numbers."