TSA removing passenger screening equipment at Youngstown airport

Staff report

VIENNA

One month after word leaked out that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration had talked openly with officials at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport about removing its passenger-screening equipment, the move has begun.

Workers began removing a body scanner and other passenger-screening equipment Monday and continued the project Tuesday, said John Moliterno, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the airport.

The equipment is being relocated to New Orleans, which apparently “had a need for it,” Moliterno said.

“We still have a viable airport. Would I rather not lose it, certainly. As soon as we get commercial service, we will get equipment back,” he said.

The airport had consistent service at the airport for 11 years through Allegiant Air, but the company stopped using the local airport a year ago in January, leaving it without consistent commercial service. The airport is still used by the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, occasional charters and corporate and other private aircraft.

Moliterno, who has been executive director since July 2015, added the title of aviation director after the previous aviation director, Dan Dickten, left last April.

Moliterno noted that the full-body scanner the TSA is moving to New Orleans is a sought-after piece of equipment. “A lot of airports don’t have that,” he said.

Moliterno has said air service can still take place without TSA screening employees and equipment because there are other options. For example, passengers can be screened by private security companies.

Moliterno said the TSA screeners, who still had been arriving at the airport each morning before fanning out to work at other area airports, also have been reassigned to a different site. That happened a couple weeks ago, Moliterno said.