By Scott Wardwell
Special to the Houlton PioneerTimes
PRESQUE ISLE — Security at the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle has changed fundamentally in three ways due to Sept. 11, 2001.
The first is in the passenger screening itself. With very few exceptions, passengers are screened by employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) throughout the United States. At PQI (Presque Isle’s airport designation), 100 percent of the screening is completed by federal TSA employees. Prior to Sept. 11, this was the responsibility of the airline at PQI.
The technology used in the screening has changed significantly in order to detect additional threats. Certainly, the procedures used with pat-downs, etc., have changed and resulted in passengers needing to be at the airport earlier. Local police and the Border Patrol are also present during all screenings.
In addition to the screening changes, coordination of information between various agencies has increased significantly. Any suspicious activity is communicated quite quickly through the airline, TSA, Border Patrol, Customs, State Police, FBI, airport officials and the local police.
Thirdly, the security of the airport facility and aircraft has increased significantly. In the case of PQI, the airport is totally fenced in with only authorized personnel allowed in certain areas. In order to protect the terminal, no unattended parking of automobiles is allowed within 65 feet of the building.
While all of this has significantly countered the threat, the costs have been substantial to implement and maintain. Passengers have paid for these changes in increased taxes on each ticket sold, higher ticket prices and/or reductions in service. Overall this has resulted in the number of passengers using PQI being substantially less today. Increases in fixed costs associated with additional regulation always has a disproportionate effect on smaller airports as there are a smaller number of passengers to spread the costs over.
In addition, the added inconvenience of these security measures has resulted in more people traveling on private aircraft. Until the recent economic downturn, the corporate jet industry was growing at a very high rate. This has resulted in more private jet traffic at the airport.
Scott E. Wardwell is the airport director for the city of Presque Isle at the Northern Maine Regional Airport, located at 650 Airport Drive.