County Executive Kraham Announces Airport Meets Federal Security Mandate
BINGHAMTON, NY - Broome County Executive Jeffrey P. Kraham announced today that beginning Tuesday, December 31, 2002, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will officially begin screening all checked baggage at the Greater Binghamton Airport meeting the national deadline set for all 429 commercial airports in the United States.
In response to the latest in a series of federally implemented airport related security enhancements resulting from the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, the Greater Binghamton Airport has worked together with the TSA to devise a customer friendly and secure manner to screen all checked luggage. In this partnership, the approach has been to implement a program that elevates security to its highest level, while still maintaining the convenience that local travelers have come to expect at the Greater Binghamton Airport.
"We are pleased that security has been elevated without sacrificing the convenience of using our facility," said County Executive Kraham. "In our innovative sequence, passengers will check-in with their airline and have their checked baggage screened by a TSA employee simultaneously meaning no time consuming secondary line requirements. Passengers at the Greater Binghamton Airport should allow an hour for checking bags, clearing security and boarding flights," added Mr. Kraham.
With this new baggage screening system, passengers will approach the airline check-in counters in the very same method as they have in the past. After placing their checked luggage in the bag wells, the check-in process will begin. Concurrently, as the airline customer service representative is assigning a passenger their seat and printing their boarding pass, a TSA representative is working beside them processing their luggage through Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) security equipment. Passengers will not notice a great deal of difference from before, but the baggage screening process will be as thorough as at any other airport in the United States.
"Working with the Broome County Department of Aviation, we were able to devise a program that provides the best of both worlds in that it offers passengers the security of cutting-edge baggage screening equipment and, at the same time, it compliments the customer service approach found at the Greater Binghamton Airport," said Dan Burche, TSA Deputy Federal Security Director, BGM.
Passengers should plan ahead for this nationwide change in traveling procedures and pack accordingly. The TSA website, www.tsa.gov provides guidelines to minimize inconvenience.
CONTACT:
Carl Beardsley, Deputy Commissioner of Aviation,
Broome County Aviation - Greater Binghamton Airport, 607.763.4471
email: cbeardsley@co.broome.ny.us
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