ATLANTA — Thursday marks the first day a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is shut down for upgrades.
The south terminal checkpoint closed late Wednesday night.
Crews are reconstructing the area and bringing in new technology to speed up the screening process.
“As bins come into the machine, there is a small chip that’s on the bottom of the bin, which will match the bin up with the image on the screen that the screener is looking at,” TSA spokesman Mark Howell said.
In addition to the bins with chips that can be tracked, changes will include more space for passengers and more than 100 more personnel.
“We're confident that once everything is in place, including the additional K-9 units, including the extra personnel, and the new technology that we’re piloting here at the airport, that overall the experience will be better and wait times will be lower,” airport spokesperson Reese McCranie said.
Lines Thursday stretched to the atrium area, but airport officials say the people are being processed quicker. %
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Airport officials say much of the personnel who were at the now-closed south security checkpoint have been moved to the main security checkpoint.
“We’re not taking a vacation when this checkpoint closes. We’re going to move the personnel and the resources we have on (the) south (checkpoint) over to the main checkpoint,” Howell said.
The added resources are helping to move people along.
"We barely have stopped. We thought it was going to be super long, but it's great," passenger Mandy Ruddell said.
Passengers are advised to get to the airport at least two hours before their flight.
That south terminal checkpoint is scheduled to stay closed for three weeks.
The first-in-the-nation test run comes less than three months after Channel 2 Action News broke the news that the airport's general manager threatened to privatize the checkpoints if TSA didn't do something about the wait times.
Airport officials say it was a strong message, but warranted in the end.
Cox Media Group
