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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 2, 2002

Federal switch 'smooth' at airport checkpoint

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

New federal security workers screening passengers at Honolulu Airport did not experience any major problems yesterday on their first day of work.

Federal security workers took over passenger screening yesterday at Honolulu airport's Checkpoint No. 5, between the United and Northwest ticket counters.

Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Sidney Hayakawa, the Transportation Security Administration's security director for Honolulu Airport, currently has 58 screeners and supervisors available for duty. All are assigned to the first of five Honolulu Airport checkpoints to be federalized.

Encouraged by the "smooth flow" during peak hours yesterday, Hayakawa said Honolulu is on track to meet the Aviation and Transportation Security Act's mandated deadline of Nov. 19 to have federal passenger screeners in place at all commercial airports in the United States, he added.

"We have 291 students in class right now and we'll meet the 475 needed to cover all the checkpoints," he said.

In addition to Checkpoint No. 5, between the United Airlines and Northwest Airlines ticket counters, there will be two other checkpoints eventually manned by TSA employees in the main terminal. A fourth checkpoint will be at the inter-island terminal and another at the commuter air terminal.

An average of 36,000 departing passengers per day in the overseas and inter-island terminals will be checked by federal screeners, who have received 44 hours of classroom training and 60 hours of on-the-job training. All carry-on luggage is checked by X-ray and an electronic trace machine. There are additional security check procedures in place.

The waiting time for departing passengers was between 10 to 15 minutes at the screening site, said Hayakawa. "We're shooting for 10 minutes," he added.

"The first switchover day in Baltimore was a mess so if this was their first day, they did good," departing passenger Jeff Soule of Washington, D.C., said.

Soule said federalizing the screening process at airports means standard rules. "I think it's good for the traveler because it makes things smoother if you know what to expect," he said.

"They're more careful but that wasn't a problem," said Carla Jordan of Almeida, Calif. "As passengers, you just need to allow time for it."

Tom Jernigan of AKAL Security, who has been an armed guard at Honolulu Airport passenger screening sites since April, was impressed with the federal screeners. AKAL Security will continue to provide armed security at airport checkpoints.

"They're more thorough and seemed to have a lot of energy," Jernigan said. "They were friendly and that's a big help. I heard a lot of good compliments from passengers. It was a good first day and hopefully complacency won't set in."

Many of the new federal hires are local residents. Among them are Paul Meyer, 55, a retired Honolulu police lieutenant; Elaine Matsuda, 52, a former TWA supervisor of ticket agents, and Jill Masunaga, 37, previously employed by United Airlines customer service and Mitsubishi Corp.'s energy division in Japan.

The training is intense and the disciplines stressed include staying alert and dealing with the public in a professional manner, said Matsuda. "This is serious business because you don't want to jeopardize the safety of an airport," she said.

Honolulu Airport also expects to be in compliance with the Dec. 31 federal mandate to have TSA screen all checked luggage for explosives. Several major carriers are already screening luggage at the airport.