The House has passed the latest aviation bill in the US Parliament. This bill has provisions to boost the airport security, reduce the screening bays and refunding a portion of the fees to the passengers whose luggage arrives late or is lost. The bill also has the provision for extending the program of Federal Aviation Administration for fourteen months at the same funding level. The bill has been approved by a voice vote. The Senate is expected to vote on Friday. The FAA’s current operating authority is scheduled to expire on Friday and the Senate has to take relative action before the agency shuts down, albeit partially.
The Republican Senator Bill Shuster dropped his demand temporarily for removing the ATC from FAA and handing it over to the private entities which led to the formation of consensus among the House Lawmakers and Senators. Bill Shuster is also the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee apart from being the Senator from Pennsylvania. This plan, had, however, already ran into confrontation among other chairmen of the Committee who did not want to hand over the ATC to private firms by removing it from the ambit of the FAA.
The bill has authorised the doubling of the strength of the Transport Security Administration teams that have the powers to stop and search any individual outside the security perimeter on even a small hint of suspicion. This provision was added in the bill keeping in mind the Brussels and Istanbul attacks.
This bill would also toughen the security checking of the employees that have the access to the secure and safe zones. This is done keeping in mind the “insider’s threat” which was quite evident from the Russian plane bombing in Egypt. Investigations proved that the bomb was brought inside by an employee.
One more bill was passed in the House which aimed at updating the national risk assessment of the Airports in the United States within three months and to conduct the risk assessment of the airports more frequently. It aimed at plugging the risky access points to the airports and develop advanced perimeter security strategies from time to time. The security road blocker and high-security spike barrier will ensure that no unauthorized vehicle gets entry to the premise and cause harm to the establishment. The bill says to donate unused or excess frisking equipment to those foreign airports that have the lack of such equipment which has direct flights from and to the United States. The bill has a provision to open the pre-check screening lanes at the time of high volume flow. Better and effective screening systems were also recommended in the bill.
The bill if proposed by the Parliament gets passed, will ensure better security facilities for the travellers and reduce the chances of any terrorist or lone wolf attacks. The tripod turnstile gates will stop the potential threats from gaining uninterrupted entry into the system. This will also make the travelling conditions better as the people will get the opportunity to get their luggage pre-checked to save time and ease traffic during peak hours. This bill will also make the airlines companies more accountable and they will be hit financially if their services are delayed for a significant time.
The bill will ensure that the traffic is smoothened as there would be more security check lanes and more security check officials in action. This will ensure that no untoward incident occur.
The air traffic is increasing day by day all across the world. It has made it tough for the frequent travellers and in turn, has increased the overall time spent in the system. Tripod turnstile gates can play a very important role in speeding up the passenger entry into the system. More effective passenger and luggage screening units will not only speed up the overall process but also make the overall system more secure. This will also help the security officials in controlling the instances of smuggling and drug pedalling. More officials for frisking activities in safe and no security zones will make the establishment more safe and secure.
