No worker reductions for TSA despite fewer fliers
— -- Fewer domestic passengers left the nation's airports through the first seven months of 2008, with fewer flights filling the friendly skies.
But while a bleak economic outlook may not perk up those numbers in the short term, the federal guardian of the gates says it has no intentions of trimming its workforce in this region of the country any time soon.
"There are no plans for reducing our staff," said Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman in the Miami office of the Transportation Security Administration, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.
Koshetz said TSA employs about 50,000 — including about 45,000 officers — with responsibilities that range from patrol and control over transportation access to training programs and grant supervision.
Many are familiar with the security screeners and baggage checkers at the nation's 450 commercial airports, but the $6.4 billion agency also oversees how hazardous material is carried and the inspection of cargo aboard ships, trains, trucks and planes. Air marshals are under TSA jurisdiction, as well as freight rail and intercity bus security.
"Air, land and sea," Koshetz said. "We're pretty much anything that has to do with transportation."
Koshetz declined to specify the number of security officers working at airports.
"We don't do that for security reasons," Koshetz said.
While that security doesn't appear to be headed for any immediate changes, trends suggest that officers will have fewer bags and passengers to deal with.
According to U.S. Department of Transportation figures, airlines in the United States carried 392.6 million scheduled domestic passengers in the first seven months of 2008. That was a drop of 1.5% over the same period in 2007.
The number of flights also slipped this year, falling to 5.6 million through July, the last month national statistics were available from DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
That was a dip of 2.1%. In July, the number of domestic passengers fell for the fifth consecutive month, dropping 3.5% nationally, while domestic flights available that month were down 2.7%.
