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AIRLINE SECURITY A MIXED BAG: Bomb Parts OK; Cigarette Lighters OK; But Bottled Water NO WAY! - RI9
AIRLINE SECURITY
A MIXED BAG:
Bomb Parts OK;
Cigarette Lighters
OK; But Bottled
Water NO WAY!
- RI9
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Federal Judge Blocks Illegal Immigration Laws in
Pennsylvania Town; Congress Seeks Perjury
Investigation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Aired July 26, 2007 - 18:00 ET
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: And security breaches, long lines, canceled and delayed flights creating chaos at our nation's airports this summer. Is our civil aviation system on the brink of outright collapse? What does it all mean to air travelers?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Alarming news about air travel and the airline industry in this country. Increasing delays and cancellations are making this summer one of the worst ever for travel.
According to the Department of Transportation, June in fact one of the worst months for delays and canceled flights. More than 30 percent of all flights were delayed last month. More than a third. Cancellations more than doubled. And despite the long lines and security checks, air travelers aren't any safer.
Christine Romans has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Long Beach Airport in California, weary travelers forced into the parking lot for two hours. All because of an unattended bag. Security breaches, long lines, mysterious weather and air traffic delays, it's so bad in June 20,301 flights never left the ground. Canceled flights are up 133 percent from last year. Excessive arrival delays longer than 45 minutes jumped 43 percent.
MEARA MCLAUGHLIN, SPOKESPERSON, FLIGHTSTATS: Whether it's security issues, whether it's weather, whether it's staffing issues at the airline or congestion at the airports or lost baggage, which is at an all-time high, I think the whole system is strained to the breaking point.
ROMANS: The Federal Aviation Administration blames weather for 70 percent of the delays and says airline traffic is up across the system. The FAA estimates there will be 740 million air travelers this year and forecasts one billion by the year 2015. But the antiquated air traffic control system still uses radar technology from the 1950s. Unions say too many jobs have been cut. Security threats make the screening process cumbersome and confusing. And no one is really sure if the longer lines mean better security.
DARRYL JENKINS, AVIATION CONSULTANT: What we need is really one level of security where the travelers always know what to expect at the airport. And if we had that rather than changing it around all the time, we would have much, much better security and actually lines would go faster.
ROMANS: That uneven security on display recently in an Albany sting. A bag of bomb parts was allowed through screening, the bottled water confiscated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: For the record, bottled water is still forbidden through screening, but lighters are now again allowed on airplanes.
But what could be most troubling of all for travelers may be what they have no control over. That's airlines' use of foreign repair and maintenance stations that are not always supervised by FAA inspectors. That outsourcing, according to the Department of Transportation inspector general, Lou, is on the rise.
DOBBS: And contributory to the problems.
ROMANS: There are so many problems, Lou. I mean, the...
DOBBS: More than doubling the canceled flights over last year? What in the world is the explanation on the part of these airlines?
ROMANS: It's a little bit of everything. They say that it's staffing issues. They say that it's weather. But you compare June to June...
DOBBS: Well, don't you always have employees and don't you always have weather, even in the airline industry?
This is...
ROMANS: Aviation experts say it is absolutely a system-wide problem. Every part of the system has a problem from top to bottom. And they say it is going to only get worse from here.
In fact, the aviation experts I talked to today, none of them said that they travel by air themselves from June -- end of May to August.
DOBBS: Aviation officials and the experts you talked with said they don't even travel during those months?
ROMANS: Not the aviation officials -- not the officials from the government. I'm sure they are doing plenty of traveling. But the aviation consultants and experts I talked to, they don't travel themselves in the summer.
DOBBS: Well, maybe there's a little clue for all air travelers, to the best that we can. Just simply curtail travel.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Is there any movement afoot in the airline industry, on the part of the airline carriers, the air carriers, to perhaps think once again of the people buying those tickets as their customers, their clients to be taken care of, rather than as potential terrorists? Maybe that would help a little. What do you think?
ROMANS: Darryl Jenkins, who I was talking to today, who was in the piece, he said that these airlines are swimming as fast as they can. They really can't even look too far out at this point.
DOBBS: Well, there's one of the problems. They are in the airline business and they are swimming.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: All right, Christine, thanks -- Christine Romans.
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