Airports seek millions to screen few
— -- Seven airports in Montana are asking the Transportation Security Administration to spend millions of dollars to screen their departing planes that carry only a few passengers a day.
The request has triggered controversy because the TSA has balked at spending $2 million a year to run checkpoints at the airports, which include some of the smallest in the nation and which aren't required to be screened.
Montana officials say screeners will help security and draw passengers to the small airports. "TSA security would increase our ridership considerably," said John Rabenberg, aeronautics director of the Montana Aeronautics Board.
TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said the request is being considered, but "there is some internal debate about the effectiveness" of setting up checkpoints to screen so few passengers.
The seven airports requesting security are served by 19-seat turboprop planes that carry an average of two passengers per flight, according to federal data. The airports are among a dozen or so that have never had security checkpoints because the planes, which travel at roughly half the speed of jets and carry 3% as much fuel as a 767, are too small to be very dangerous in terrorist hands.
Federal regulations require passengers to be screened only if they are boarding planes with more than 61 seats.
The TSA's reluctance has incited Montana officials. Sen. Max Baucus said he and fellow Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester "will continue to hold TSA's feet to the fire until this screening is up and running." Baucus said he wants Montanans to be "safe and secure."
For some in Montana, the checkpoints are not only about security but money as well.
Leading the push for TSA checkpoints has been Billings, Mont.-based Big Sky Airlines, the only commercial carrier serving the seven airports. All of the airline's flights from the seven airports go to Billings International Airport.
Big Sky has lost millions of dollars in recent years, and airline President Fred deLeeuw partly blames the TSA.
