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Wed., Oct. 27, 2004

David Germain Staff writer

About half of all passenger baggage checked in at Spokane International Airport is now being searched by new explosive-detection systems.

It’s taken workers about six months to construct a closed-off room in the airport’s C Concourse where federal screeners Tuesday began using the new equipment. The two explosive-detection systems use advanced X-ray technology to search bags for explosives and other items.

The machines, designed by InVision Technologies of Newark, Calif., are about the size of minivans. Each costs about $1 million.

Three more of the devices will be installed in the airport’s main concourse after the first of the year, said Dave Kuper, security director with the Transportation Security Administration in Spokane.

Because they’re behind walls in the concourses, the machines “will be totally invisible to travelers,” said Spokane airport spokesman Todd Woodard.

They’re being installed as part of a federal requirement that all checked bags at U.S. airports go through such machines, Kuper said. The new systems provide more safety and are more efficient in processing bags than the hand-checking system the TSA screeners have been using, he added.

The machines can process “600 plus” pieces of luggage an hour, said Kuper. TSA screeners move them onto a conveyor belt that sends them through the center of the machine.

“It’s also more efficient,” Kuper said, “because the screeners, up to now, have had to handle each bag three times. Once when they move it to the search area, a second time to lift it to a table, and a third time when they put it back.”

Kuper said some very large or irregularly shaped bags will have to be inspected by hand or tested by trace-detection machines the TSA has been using in Spokane. However, “over 80 percent of the bags at the airport will be screened” by the new machines, he said.

About 7,000 similar machines are being installed across the United States, according to the TSA. Spokane’s airport “is about in the middle of the pack” in order of installation, TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Constructing the inspection areas for the five machines in Spokane will cost about $9.5 million, said Woodard. Of that amount, the airport pays 10 percent, while passenger ticket surcharges will pay for the remaining 90 percent.

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