In a Spartan basement area beneath Denver International Airport’s brightly lit check-in counters, the Transportation Security Administration is still working to make baggage screening run more smoothly in the post- 9/11 world.
TSA’s $95 million in-line system has been electronically screening all checked bags at the airport for more than a year. It processes about 250,000 bags a week.
The move to automation has allowed TSA to reduce the number of employees screening bags from nearly 500 in 2003 to about 180 now, mainly through attrition.
This year, the TSA has been installing improvements to the system, including the ability to reroute bags that are sent in error to a “resolution room,” cutting down the number of open bag searches. Another improvement displays why a bag was routed to the resolution room, expediting the bag search in some cases. Those changes cost about $1.8 million, part of the system’s $95 million budget.
The improvements come as DIA prepares for record summer passenger traffic. For passengers going through security checkpoints, the crowds have meant waits of up to 31 minutes over Memorial Day week and of 24 minutes earlier this month. However, the average wait remains less than four minutes, and less than 13 minutes during peak travel times.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
