CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Changes are coming soon to the screening process at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske visited the Queen City Wednesday and announced the airport will be testing out new machines with better detectability.
“The new technology will allow us to screen for a wider range of explosives and for lower explosive weights,” Pekoske said. “So it’s detectability is much, much better.”
Pekoske said the new machines will allow operators to view an object in 3D versus 2D to gain a better sense of what may be inside a bag.
“That process will result in fewer bags needing to be searched and when they do need to be searched, we know specifically where to look in the bag,” he added.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport Director Brent Cagle said the number of local passengers have grown over the past seven years. During peak summer months, TSA screens more than 30,000 passengers and 15,000 bags a day at the airport.
To accommodate that growth, the TSA has added technology and officers.
Pekoske said passengers will start to see the new screening machines at Charlotte Douglas this summer and fall. He said the TSA expects to buy the technology on a larger scale in 2019.
Ultimately, Pekoske said it should result in less time spent by passengers waiting in line at the checkpoints and a safer travel experience.