Chicago Airport Security Staffing To Increase

May 20, 2016

The US government is accelerating plans to add security staff and bomb-sniffing dogs at Chicago's two major airports after a "breakdown" earlier this week caused frustration and some passengers to miss flights.

"Earlier this week we had a breakdown here in Chicago," Peter Neffenger, US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator, told a news conference. "We are working hard to make sure that does not happen again."

Chicago's O'Hare Airport is the second-busiest US airport, with 77 million people in 2015, according to Airports Council International.

Chicago is the only city in North America where American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines all have major operations, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the news conference.

Long security lines at airports across the United States recently have frayed tempers and led to calls for the government to fix the problem.

Passenger screening has slowed since TSA last year abandoned the 'PreCheck' lanes where officers would pull people randomly into faster but less rigorous lanes, after reports of screening lapses.

However, TSA budget and staffing levels had been set assuming that PreCheck would be in effect, and that more people would sign up to it. As a result, the agency found itself without the resources to handle rising passenger traffic on US airlines, expected to be at an all-time high this summer.

In Chicago, TSA has added thousands of hours in overtime for security workers in order to meet demands, and officials received funding sooner than they had expected it to be available, Neffenger said.

Emanuel said that 58 extra full-time TSA staff would be in place in the next couple of weeks, 100 part-time workers will go full-time, and 250 more agents will work in the city by August.

Chicago experienced a big-volume day earlier this week, but it was not unpredicted, Neffenger said. Passengers followed recommendations to arrive early.

"We, quite frankly, simply put, did not have enough checkpoint lanes open when they arrived. And once behind, it takes a long time to catch up," Neffenger said.

Chicago inherited financial problems, which led to staffing, technology and canine issues, and those responsible failed to fund and staff positions, Emanuel said.

"Now we have a situation that is totally not tolerable for the flying public," Emanuel said.

(Reuters)