By the Associated Press
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - It will be the end of 2004 before an explosives-screening system built into
the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's baggage system is in place.
That's one year past an already-extended federal deadline.
The airport's in-line system -- a series of conveyor belts that feed baggage into bomb-detecting
machines deep beneath the airport -- will cost an estimated $165 million. The system for Terminal C is
expected to be finished in June, Terminal B in July and Terminal E in September 2004, the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram reports for its Friday editions.
"The in-line system will not be available until those dates," DFW Chief Operating Officer Kevin Cox told
airport board members Thursday.
The Transportation Security Administration has a congressional mandate to complete
baggage-screening systems at U.S. airports by year's end. Airport officials say that because of delays
in funding and the complexity of the construction at DFW's terminals, work started slowly.
Congress first mandated a 2002 deadline for screening all baggage with bomb-detecting machines.
The deadline was changed to the end of 2003 after an alliance of airport directors led by DFW Chief
Executive Jeff Fegan asked for more time.
DFW will stick to a combination of bomb-detecting machines, dog searches, manual searches and
bag matching while work on the in-line system continues. As parts of the screening system are
completed, they will be put to use, said Clay Paslay, executive vice president of airport development.
Fegan said that the TSA has been notified of the extended construction schedule.
