Airport operator Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have unveiled the first five automated screening lanes installed in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in California. The upgrades are part of an ongoing US$12.3m project to upgrade a total of 14 lanes.
Aura Moore, chief information officer at LAWA, said, “Los Angeles World Airports is pleased to bring this enhancement to our passengers, as we continue to make LAX a gold-standard airport. We are also happy that so many of our airline partners are on board with the decision to upgrade these lanes, and we thank the TSA for its partnership in making this upgrade possible.”
Keith Jeffries, the TSA’s federal security director at LAX, said, “Our goal is to seek out innovative solutions and processes that will increase security effectiveness while improving the passenger experience. Because automated security lanes automate some of the processes previously carried out by TSA officers, passengers can move more swiftly through the checkpoint without compromising security.”
The automated lanes enable up to five passengers to place their items in trays simultaneously and submit them for screening without waiting on the first person to complete the process. Guests then line up at the body scanner or metal detector.
The first lanes were installed in Terminal 7 last year as United Airlines opened its new security screening checkpoint. Lanes are also available in Terminals 2 and 4 at LAX.
The property trays are 25% larger than the trays in standard screening lanes and each has been fitted with unique radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for additional accountability as items pass through the security process. A camera takes a photo of the contents of each bin, which is linked to the x-ray image of a bag’s contents.
Once the project is completed this spring, LAX forecasts that 3,220 passengers can be screened per hour at the checkpoint, which is nearly a thousand more than its current capacity.
