For several months, the airport commission and staff have planned to widen the TSA checkpoint and make room for the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanner to expedite the process for those who set off a metal detector. Arriving at least one hour before departure will still be recommended.
November happens to be about the time the checkpoint widening project is expected to be completed. Airport commissioners in May approved a $162,500 bid from Glidewell Construction to redesign the security checkpoint and prepare a space for the walk-through machine and isolation areas.
"We're planning not only for what we want right now, but also what's going to happen in the future," Airport Director Michael Griffin told the commission Tuesday, noting TSA would not have been able to provide a machine without the additional space.
Griffin said the airport's design staff and architect contractor were notified Aug. 22 of the scanner's availability during a conference call with TSA. The 2019 airport budget designated $85,000 for the project with airport funds. With the architectural contract from MAHG Architects, the total estimated project will be about $169,516.
A grant to pay for half of the project will be requested from the Arkansas Aeronautics Department once there is a designated space for the machine. The airport terminal, which opened in 2002 and was under construction during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was at the time on the leading edge of airport security, Griffin said. This brings the airport up to the latest TSA compliance.
Although not common, the airport does see backed-up lines in the mornings when two flights are scheduled to depart, Griffin noted. Last week, he said, several people missed their flight at the Fort Smith airport because they arrived less than 30 minutes before their flight departed and found a line of passengers backed up to the front door.
"TSA still processed people and did a very good job ... I saw the video ... of getting people moving as fast as they can," Griffin said. "But the airline still has to leave when they say they're going to leave."
Griffin said although there will still only be one processing line for people at the TSA checkpoint, he hopes to eventually open a second lane for "pre-check" flyers. However, that option would come down to a staffing decision by TSA and the security providers are currently at a staffing limit.
Fort Smith TSA Director Tonya Wilhelms told commissioners the Fort Smith security agents offer 10 minutes of expedited processing for TSA PreCheck flyers before each flight.
TSA PreCheck is a government-sponsored program that began in October 2011 and grants approved passengers on domestic flights — and some international — expedited screening. When the TSA is not running PreCheck those first 10 minutes, the qualified flyers are also offered the opportunity to be expedited with about a five-minute wait, Wilhelms said.
The TSA website features a YouTube channel with humorous "They Brought What?" videos on odd things people bring through the TSA checkpoint. The latest is a segment on a "guitar gun."
Fifth flight
American Airlines notified Griffin recently the air carrier would add a mid-day flight and push back its 6 a.m. flight to 5 a.m. at the Fort Smith Airport on Sept. 5. This could also help alleviate the "bottle neck" issue with two flights departing in the 6 a.m. hour.The additional flight to Dallas brings the number of daily flights up to five at the local airport, but it is expected to be on a temporary basis to accommodate demand. Griffin said this has been done in the fall over the past few years, and the schedule shows the 5 a.m. flight will at least run through October.
Delta Air Lines offers two flights to Atlanta each day, with departures at about 6:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
According to the airport's latest passenger traffic report, the number of people boarding flights went up from 8,319 in July 2018 to 9,030 last month. Most of the enplanements, or people boarding flights, went through American Airlines to Dallas-Fort Worth. There were 6,731 enplanements for American Airlines at the Fort Smith airport last month. It was a 13% increase from the prior July.
Griffin said the decision by American to add another flight was "encouraging" and the past year's enplanement numbers are "going in the right direction."
"It shows the Fort Smith market is doing well," Griffin said.
T-hangar rent increase
The airport commission on Tuesday also approved an 11% increase in t-hangar rental fees at the airport, from $220 to $240 per month for the 42-foot-wide hangars and from $250 to $275 per month for the 48-foot-wide hangars. On staff recommendation, the commission also approved eliminating the fee to be placed on a waiting list for one of the 28 t-hangars at the airport. Griffin said he has never requested the fee. The fee was last increased in July 2014 from $190 and $220 per month. The airport provides electricity to the hangars.©2019 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
