Enhanced Airline Pilot Security Screening Begins

The Air Line Pilots Association International issued the following news release:

The Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA) and Airlines for America (A4A) this week will open four new Known Crewmember program sites at Denver International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Known Crewmember, an enhanced security-screening program for airline crewmembers, positively verifies a pilot's identity and employment status, strengthening aviation security and shortening screening lines for passengers. In addition to the four new Known Crewmember program sites launching this week, the program is expected to expand to an additional 17 airport locations later this year.

"Since 2007, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l, has led a national effort, engaging with Airlines for America, the Transportation Security Administration, and the airlines, to make the Known Crewmember program a reality," said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA's president. "This enhanced screening process recognizes the extensive background checks that pilots receive as part of their employment and airline pilots' critical role and responsibility in ensuring the security of their aircraft each and every time they fly."

"A4A are pleased to partner with ALPA and TSA to advance an enhanced security-screening system that can improve security and reduce passenger screening congestion, benefiting both passengers and crewmembers," said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. "We urge the TSA to include flight attendants in the Known Crewmember screening system, so that the screening system will be further enhanced."

The Known Crewmember program enables Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to verify the identity and employment status of airline flightcrew members. As a result, airline pilots, who already undergo thorough criminal background and employment checks as a condition of their employment, will be subject to a more efficient security-screening process. Both ALPA and the A4A have asked the TSA to include flight attendants in the future.

More than 3,500 screenings currently take place each day at the 10 U.S. airports that currently feature the program access sites, which include Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), Miami International Airport (MIA), Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).

It is the goal of ALPA and A4A to make the program available to all U.S. airline pilots; 110 U.S. airlines are currently eligible to participate in the Known Crewmember program.

For more information, visit the Known Crewmember website: www.knowncrewmember.org.

ABOUT A4A

Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and nearly 10 million U.S. jobs. A4A airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesdotorg.

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