TSA meets screening deadline

DESPITE the complaining and predictions of it being missed en masse, the aviation industry successfully met the US passenger cargo-screening deadline on 1 August.

In June, a Government Accountability Office report suggested the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would struggle to meet the deadline. That it managed to do is a fact that the TSA is now crowing about.

“TSA has taken another step forward in strengthening the security of air travel,” said TSA administrator John Pistole. “Screening all cargo on domestic passenger aircraft adds another layer to our already robust security system and ensures that TSA is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of air travel.”

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) mandate to organise the screening of 100 per cent of air cargo on domestic passenger aircraft was controversial and highly politicised. That this first stage has been met is no doubt a relief to all. However, with the TSA admitting that the 100 per cent freighter cargo-screening deadline of next year will now be at least 2013, there is still a long journey ahead.