Mineta Meeting Hard Deadlines

Washington - The return of the business traveler to the skies, plus a readjustment of the industry fare structure will be key factors in the economic recovery of U.S. airlines, U.S. Department of Transportation secretary Norman Mineta told BTN in an exclusive interview on May 7.

Corporations themselves "have a role in terms of getting their employees back to traveling," Mineta said. "On the other hand, the airlines are going to have to do something about not charging these high, full fares. They are going to have to readjust their fare structure so that maybe the leisure pulls up somewhat, but they also have to bring down the full fare coach and the first class, so we get a little more equilibrium."

Mineta emphasized that the one-day business trip by air must remain viable. He stated that his goal of no more than 10 minutes spent in airport security will eliminate the delays that presently deter some business travelers from flying at their former levels. "We can't afford to have our checkpoints be the chokepoints on either the airline operation side or in terms of the convenience of the passengers," he said.

The Transportation Security Administration's security procedure "laboratory" at Baltimore Washington International's Pier C is developing valuable screening techniques that will be replicated at other airports nationwide, Mineta said, and these procedures will help to minimize the hassle factor. "At BWI, we've been able to increase the throughput by 40 percent, just on how people are queued up, go through the magnetometers, put their luggage through the X-ray machine, get wanded and get their shoes inspected using dedicated X-ray machines for shoes so that it really reduces travel time."

He added that the much-discussed trusted traveler concept of providing frequent travelers with identity cards that would speed them through airport security is still under consideration (see story, this page). DOT has two contractors working on the plan. "Once we set up the protocol on it in terms of the kind of background information check we want to be able to put people through to get a trusted traveler ID, then we'll experiment with it somewhere," Mineta said. A key issue that must be resolved before such a program can be unveiled is how to be sure that checking the trusted traveler's carry-on luggage "doesn't become the thing that slows you down," he said. "How do we make sure that we are going to expedite a person through and also get this bag through in a way that we're satisfied that what's in there is okay to go on the airplane?"

The secondary wanding of passengers at the gates will not be a permanent feature of airport security, Mineta said. Eventually, the airlines will handle this at their own kiosks. "Right now, when you come through the security point, we don't know who you are," he said. "But if you go to the kiosk, as Delta has, and get a boarding pass from the kiosk itself, and then you come in through the screening area, once you go through the screening area, as far as I'm concerned, then you ought to be able to go 'olly, olly oxen free' and get to the gate and on the airplane. So, we're hoping to get rid of the wanding at the gates." Mineta added that while Delta Air Lines is the first airline to use these kiosks, other airlines also intend to implement this system. "Once we get to that point, then we'll get rid of the secondary wanding at the gates," he said.

Mineta praised the quality of personnel hired by TSA as the initial group of screener-trainers, saying the "upgraded skills" of this workforce means they can be trained more in terms of their "intuitive sense" about their jobs. Under terms of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, all screeners must be federal employees by Nov. 19. By June, Mineta said federal screeners will be coming onboard at 100 airports: "From June until Nov. 19 there will be a steady stream of people being deployed to the 429 commercial airports across the country."

In the Administration's supplemental appropriations bill now working its way through Congress, DOT was cleared to spend $630 million more this year on explosives detection equipment. This amount was what the department requested and it will fund between 800 and 1,100 explosives detection system machines and 4,974 explosives trace detection devices, Mineta said.

He also expressed some frustration at the current atmosphere in Congress, in which several lawmakers have criticized the pace of TSA's activity, as well as the agency's request for additional funds. He noted that the new security law is "very prescribed" on the setup of TSA and the deployment of a federal screener workforce at the nation's commercial service airports.

"It's like tattooed on my forehead: Nov. 19, 2002, all passenger screening will be done by federal employees; Dec. 31, 2002, all the bags will be checked by explosives detection systems," he said. "My forehead's full, so when I'm shaving, I'm going, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' The problem is now we've geared everything to that, and now they're saying, 'Well, no, you're not going to get 51,632 people, you're going to get 45,000.' Does it mean we're not going to do 100 percent bag check? Are we going to check every third passenger? How are we going to shoehorn in our requirements under the law with what we have now been given in dollars?"

Mineta said he would speak with House transportation appropriations subcommittee chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and others "about what is expected of us." He said he would ask key lawmakers to "give us a little wiggle room to gear up because we sure as heck aren't overspending on this thing. Give us a little wiggle room to get everything in place and then come back and do oversight on this. That's the normal process. In this instance, it's a brand new program. Give us a little leeway to be able to get the job done and whack the heck out of us if we don't do the job at the end of this year."

Already, the General Accounting Office and DOT inspector general Kenneth Mead are reviewing the activities of TSA. "Our IG has already told me, 'You guys have got to have better oversight in terms of some of the contracts that are being let. You don't have enough people looking at the contracts,' " Mineta said.

Following that criticism, Mineta said DOT borrowed personnel from the IG's office to assist with contracts. "We know that we're under the gun," Mineta said, "but to nail our foot to the chocks at the beginning of the race is not the way to get us up and running. We want to make sure this is a smooth operation, and it's not one that deters people from travel or, more importantly, once they make the decision to travel, that we don't become the hassle factor."