Posted on: Tuesday, December 2, 2003

Airport screeners' hours to be reduced

Associated Press

At least 100 and possibly as many as 220 security screeners at Honolulu International Airport will have their hours cut in January.

Sidney Hayakawa, director of federal security operations at the airport, said he is not sure how many full-time screeners will be reduced to part-time status.

He said he has been ordered to convert a minimum of 20 percent to a maximum of 40 percent of his 550 screeners to part-time status.

It is not known how the order from the federal Transportation Security Administration will affect staffing at Neighbor Island airports. The cutback order stems from budget constraints.

Hayakawa said his staff already is short-handed. More than 240 screeners from all of Hawai'i's airports were laid off or left through attrition after Congress balked at the size of the TSA's budget.

The TSA must recognize that Honolulu has a shortage because it has given the airport 15 additional full-time screeners from Guam for five days during the peak holiday travel season, Hayakawa said.

He could not say how the changes might affect lines and waiting time for passengers.

The TSA was created in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks to provide greater security at U.S. airports.