By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Central Illinois Regional Airport has an easier way to get your checked luggage on your flight.
It’s a system most airports already have, but the Bloomington airport terminal predates the Transportation Security Administration. The checked baggage inspection system put in place this week replaces the old EDS (Explosive Detection System) where travelers had to carry their bags to be screened.
“Flights come in and they do what we call a ‘quick turn,’ ” CIRA spokeswoman Fran Strebing said. “They have 20 to 30, sometimes 40 minutes at the most turnaround time for them to get the flights in and then back out again.
The screening will be done by a new Checked Baggage Inspection System conveyor belt behind the counter.
“This process will not only help our customers who are walking up to the counter, checking in and having to walk their bags over to the screener to be put through the system manually, but it will help the airlines turn the flights more efficiently,” Strebing said. “It just speeds up the process.”
Strebing added the new security system also reduces the risk of injury for security workers hauling that luggage.
The new screening system costs about $8 million. TSA covered most of the cost with a federal grant.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
