Nov 20, 2002 2 min read

Perhaps you’ve seen the advertising campaigns launched by airlines seeking to entice customers back onboard. Some are offering airfares to select cities that are cheaper than buying gasoline to drive. Air travel has taken double digit hits following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, at first out of a renewed fear of flying. In the year that has passed, travelers have complained about the increased time spent navigating security and screening processes. As of Tuesday those lines are expected to become shorter. As part of the new federal Transportation Security Administration, more than 47,000 airport security workers are now on the job at 424 airports nationwide. These employees now work for the federal government.

Ordinarily, when the government takes over a task it becomes burdened in bureaucracy that lengthens rather than shortens processing time. But travelers so far are reporting improvements.

The private workforce that formerly held the frontline in ensuring that weapons weren’t taken onboard were often criticized as inefficient, inattentive and poorly trained, with a high turnover in employees for low-wage jobs. A more frightening criticism was that private industry failed to screen the screeners and at times hired employees who couldn’t pass scrutiny of background checks just to fill the jobs.

That shouldn’t happen now with the federal government conducting background checks and providing the training.

Will it be a foolproof system? Of course not. Undoubtedly things will slip through that shouldn’t, and elderly grandmas still might be subjected to groundless searches. And with any system there are always those who will find a way to beat it.

However, the takeover of security by the federal government comes with the plus that guidelines will be uniform at all airports and that employees will be trained to act accordingly. This can only help the beleaguered air industry.