Clinton Orders Tightening of Air Security

President Clinton on Thursday ordered new measures to tighten security at airports and aboard airliners, including more hand searches of luggage, stepped-up inspection of aircraft on international flights and the introduction of more high-tech bomb-detection equipment.

At a press conference after meeting with families of the victims of last week’s Trans World Airlines crash, Clinton said the restrictions would “increase both the inconvenience and the expense of air travel” but that they are necessary “to alleviate the concerns of the American people” about air safety.

The measures essentially would broaden some restrictions that currently are in effect only for some international flights or at airports that have been designated as “high threat”--applying them to more flights, both domestic and international.

For example, most U.S. air passengers currently are able to check their bags at a curbside check-in desk and go directly to the gates of their flights for boarding. Under the new rules, that practice would be prohibited on all international flights.

Following Clinton’s order, authorities at John Wayne Airport announced that travelers will be subjected to more intensive baggage screening and other additional security measures. Officials declined to release specific details of the security plan.

“We are advising that passengers arrive 90 minutes prior to departure,” said Kathleen Campini Chambers, spokeswoman for the airport.

The increased security measures at John Wayne are effective immediately, officials announced, and individual airlines are responsible for having the staff and resources to carry them out.

Major U.S. airlines such as United, American and Southwest embraced the president’s initiatives, even though the steps likely will lead to boarding delays and higher costs.

Clinton also established a new commission--to be headed by Vice President Al Gore--that will review efforts to update security and air-traffic-control equipment, including examining how airports can be equipped with high-technology devices that can detect explosives.

The Gore panel is expected to issue a report within 45 days.

Clinton’s announcement appeared to be designed to prod federal regulators into intensifying their emphasis on air safety and security, despite long-standing concerns by the industry that such measures would be such an inconvenience that they would discourage passengers from flying.

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It also pushed the United States closer to the kinds of tight security restrictions that currently are imposed by many other nations, particularly those facing a serious threat of terrorism.

Conspicuously left unanswered, however, was who would finance the extra equipment and personnel needed to carry out the new regulations--the government, the industry or some combination of the two. Analysts predicted that the industry would pass any added costs on to consumers.

The administration also declined to make public the specifics of what the new measures would entail. Federal Aviation Administration officials, briefing reporters, said they do not want to disclose any details for fear of providing information that might help would-be terrorists.

For example, FAA officials said spot luggage searches would be conducted on some domestic flights, but they would not say what proportion of flights would be affected. Similarly, they dodged questions about how many airports would be equipped with new luggage-scanning machines, which are now in place on a test basis at only two airports.

FAA Administrator David Hinson said the intensified security procedures could add 15 to 30 minutes to the check-in time for some flights and some additional cost for a ticket.

The FAA has already stepped up security measures at some U.S. airports in connection with the Atlanta Olympics, but it has been criticized for moving too slowly on broader restrictions.

The high-tech device scanning device, which is capable of detecting explosives and is known as a CTX-5000 scanner, costs about $1 million to $1.3 million a unit. It would take an hour for a single machine to process the luggage for 230 passengers--the number aboard the ill-fated TWA Flight 800.

Transportation Secretary Federico Pena told reporters that the cost of financing such equipment would initially be borne by the government, but he conceded that the question of who will pay over the longer run “has not been addressed.”

An outline of the measures the president proposed:

* Preflight inspections of all aircraft flying to or from the United States will be stepped up--”every plane, every cabin, every cargo hold, every time,” to detect possible signs of tampering or sabotage.

* Inspection of luggage at check-in facilities at airports will be increased. Curbside check-in privileges will be discontinued on all international flights. Hotels no longer will be able to transfer luggage to flights without inspection. More bags will be X-rayed.

* All passengers will be asked to label their luggage clearly and to have a photo identification, such as a driver’s license, available. Some checked luggage and carry-on baggage will be inspected at the check-in counter, requiring earlier check-in times.

* The airlines will be required to “match” each piece of baggage to a passenger. This practice now is limited primarily to international flights but will be expanded to some domestic flights as well.

* Commuter airlines, which previously have been exempt from such regulations, will be required to follow the same security rules as larger carriers.

Clinton also vowed that the restrictions would be intensified further if investigators find that the explosion that caused the crash of Flight 800 was the result of a terrorist act.

Clinton and other administration officials said they believe that the public is willing to bear the increased cost and inconvenience of the new measures.

The airlines stopped short of predicting whether they would pass along any extra costs to the flying public in the form of higher fares.

“Yes, it’s more than likely that costs will increase by some measure,” said Richard Martin of United Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier. “But it’s too early to put an estimate on what the increase will be.”

American Airlines also declined to comment about delays and costs but did say that the airline and its smaller American Eagle subsidiary “strongly support” Clinton’s actions.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said it was premature “to determine what the cost impact will be, if any.”

Long delays could be financially harmful for a carrier like Dallas-based Southwest, which flies relatively short routes and relies on quick “turnarounds” at airport gates to get their planes back in the air with paying passengers.

However, Rutherford said it appeared most of the president’s actions indicate “it will take longer to get through the security checkpoints” of airports rather than the airlines’ gates.

Therefore, “we’re cautioning our customers to allow plenty of time to get through that checkpoint and still arrive at the gate in time,” she said.

Los Angeles International Airport, meanwhile, issued a statement noting that Clinton’s measures were “specifically directed to airlines,” because the carriers “are responsible for all passengers boarding the aircraft and loading all cargo on the aircraft.”

That would mean that any extra labor costs incurred at those checkpoints would have to be paid by the airlines.

Richter reported from New York and Pine from Washington. Times staff writers Gebe Martinez in New York, James F. Peltz in Los Angeles and Thao Hua in Orange County contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Making Air Travel More Secure

President Clinton ordered the following measures to increase airline security:

* Curbside check-in will be banned.

* Hand searches of checked luggage and carry-on bags.

* Preflight inspections of any plane to or from the U.S.

* X-raying of all luggage going into the cargo hold of an airliner, and use of more sophisticated imaging technology.

* A commission headed by Vice President Al Gore to review the pace of modernization of the air-traffic control and security systems, including how the U.S. can deploy high-technology machines to detect the most sophisticated explosives. The report is due in 45 days.

Source: Times wire services