Orlando International Airport expected to keep TSA on the job
Federal security officers would continue checking travelers for weapons before they board planes at Orlando International Airport under a plan that likely will be adopted today by airport leaders.
But the Transportation Security Administration could be up for another review within nine months, even though the agency has consistently received high marks from passengers, including in a March 2014 survey obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
That report, compiled for the airport by Phoenix Marketing International of New Jersey, found 5 percent of passengers complained about waits being too long at security checkpoints, and just 2 percent rated their treatment by TSA officers as poor or very poor.
Orlando International board member Dean Asher, who chaired a committee that reviewed TSA for more than two years, said he supports keeping the agency on the job, at least for a while.
The full airport board is expected to adopt the recommendation of Asher’s eight-volunteer group.
But, Asher said Tuesday, he remains convinced that hiring private-security guards is the best long-term option for Orlando International.
“I just think a privatepublic partnership works better,” said Asher, who had not seen the Phoenix survey and visited several smaller airports where private guards were used.
He maintains that contractors are more efficient than TSA and react more quickly to get guards into place when lines become too long. TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz would not comment.
Asher’s committee voted for quarterly reviews of TSA’s performance based on benchmarks that include moving passengers through security in an average time of 6 minutes during busy travel times, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.
The first look at how TSA is doing would come within nine months, according to Asher.
“We’ll move forward and see how they perform,” he said.
The TSA employs 1,200 people at Orlando International Airport and, on any given day, screens 50,000 travelers and 38,000 checked bags.