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Statement
of
Michael La Pier, A.A.E.
Executive Director,
Central Illinois Regional Airport
Before
the
Committee on Governmental Affairs
and the
Subcommittee on Oversight
Of
Government Management
September
25, 2001
Good afternoon Mr. Chairman,
members of the Committee and staff. I would like to thank the
Chair for the opportunity to appear here this afternoon and to
provide you with a small airports view of the current state of
aviation security in our country.
I
would like to thank the senior Senator from the State of Illinois,
Senator Durbin, for inviting me to appear today and especially for
his unyielding support and leadership of aviation issues in the
State of Illinois.
I
should tell you this is my first opportunity to testify before a
congressional or senate committee. I am deeply honored by this
experience and will always value it as an American.
In
the words of a song made popular again recently, “in a New York
minute, everything can change.” This is eerily true of the world
of civil aviation as the result of the tragic actions of September
11th. The acts of aviation piracy and subsequent
terrorism have clearly changed the face of the industry that the
Central Illinois Regional Airport is a part of forever. We
recognize that change, Mr. Chairman, and frankly, we welcome it.
We clearly don’t welcome these changes in the manner in which
they were presented to us, but we support fully all efforts to
strengthen civil aviation security in our country.
Allow
me for a moment to introduce you to the Central Illinois Regional
Airport. Serving a region of about 1.2 million people from
Bloomington – Normal, the airport has seen unprecedented growth
in passenger traffic and scheduled commercial flights. Since 1987
passenger traffic has grown from just over 80,000 passengers
annually to nearly 500,000 in calendar year 2000. At the same
time, the number of scheduled daily airline flights has grown from
12 in 1987 to nearly 50 in 2000. In fact, the number of air
carriers serving the airport has grown from two (2) in 1987 to its
current level of five (5). This growth is the direct result of a
very robust economy in the region coupled with the offering of
expanded service opportunities by the airlines. I guess you could
call us a true success of the deregulation era.
In
terms of passenger traffic, we were recognized as the fastest
–growing non-hub airport in the United States in 1997 and over
the last five (5) years, the second – fastest growing airport
regardless of size in the country.
Prior
to the horror of September 11th, the Central Illinois
Regional Airport stood in full compliance with all applicable
security directives and regulations put forward by the Federal
Aviation Administration. I am also pleased to report that we
achieved compliance with all new directives issued after September
11th within twenty – four hours, making us one of the
first in the Great Lakes region to achieve this status. We take
security very seriously at Central Illinois Regional Airport.
It
is important to note, however, that full compliance does not come
without a cost. Our security budget for this year totals about
$125,000.00. The increased security dictated after September 11th
will cost approximately $30,000.00 per month or nearly triple our
budget. This expenditure, if annualized would constitute nearly
20% of our $2.1 million annual operating budget. This, Mr.
Chairman, has the potential to become a significant financial
burden.
As
the members of this committee are aware, there are today two
distinct but intertwined areas of responsibility for aviation
security at our nations airports. First, airlines are tasked with
a variety of regulations regarding passenger and baggage security
under the rules of Federal Aviation Regulation Part 108. These
tasks include what is perhaps the most visible security mission,
the passenger security checkpoint. Airlines hold the
responsibility for providing trained, qualified personnel to man
this operation. Currently, in most if not all situations, carriers
contract these services with one of several private companies.
Airport
operators support the passenger security checkpoint with law
enforcement officers. These officers are not trained to operate
the checkpoint but are in place to support its operators if
necessary. The level of law enforcement support required varies
depending upon the size or activity level of the facility. In the
case of Central Illinois Regional Airport, the required level of
law enforcement support is achieved through a series of alarms
that alert City of Bloomington Police who will then respond to the
checkpoint within five (5) minutes.
I
do not wish to be viewed as critical of the current system of
checkpoint security. I believe that the vast majority of companies
and individuals involved in these activities are trained, and
caring people that have done and are doing a good job of
protecting the safety of our airline passengers. It is important
to note however that these individuals are not law enforcement
personnel.
I
believe that whether we like it or not, the events of September 11th
have caused a change in the rules of the game. I do not believe
these changes can be met with simple regulatory adjustments. We
must meet these changes with significant actions that will allow
us to again capture firm control of the safety of our nations
skies.
There
has been a great deal of discussion and debate recently about the
need to standardize or perhaps even federalize the activities of
all airport checkpoints. This is an idea that has significant
merit and in my view warrants a very complete examination. Perhaps
it is time for us to move our checkpoint security out of a
regulatory posture and into a posture of law enforcement. A
parallel I believe can be found in our nations’ Coast Guard.
While I do not feel qualified to recommend what agency should be
tasked with this new effort, I would suggest that they be provided
timely access to all relevant information gathered by all branches
of our government so that they can rapidly and effectively adjust
their training and if necessary their posture. We must demand that
they take a proactive approach rather than a reactive one. Simply
put, the rules of the game have changed and I believe we can
expect those rules to continue to change in the future. Whoever is
tasked with the responsibility of checkpoint security must have
all necessary information and tools, particularly communication
tools, to anticipate pending changes before they occur.
The
second area of responsibility for aviation security is that of
airport security. This, in simple terms is the security of the
airport facility and the environment that our air carriers operate
in. These activities are the responsibility of the airport
operator.
Under
current regulations, the extent of airport security required
varies depending upon the activity level of the airport. The level
required varies from complete video monitoring and law enforcement
patrols at our nations busiest airports to much less stringent,
but nonetheless effective, security posture at some of our smaller
airports.
When
I think back to the events of September 11th and in
particular the events of that day at Central Illinois Regional
Airport, the one thing that stands out in my mind was the lack of
information and direction that we received. I fully realize that
the efforts of those in charge were probably correctly focused on
much more high profile, higher activity airport facilities but
while the exposure is higher at those facilities it is no less
real at airports the size of Central Illinois Regional.
Going
back to the Gulf War, airports and the Federal Aviation
Administration working together crafted plans to implement as
needed varying levels of security depending upon the perceived
threat. Without going into specific details, all airports
developed under the guidance of FAA, four levels of security that
airports are prepared to implement in short order when notified by
FAA. This action I would call reactive at the time but one that
should have put us in a proactive stance for the future.
Unfortunately,
the one component that failed in this system on September 11th
was again communication. We did not receive any communication from
FAA regarding increased levels of security until the next day.
I
again do not wish to be viewed as being critical of the
individuals that were involved in these activities at FAA. I
believe they do a wonderful job of regulating the security posture
of our nations airports. We must however learn from these events
and practice that old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.”
I
believe the agency in charge of aviation security must be provided
with the tools necessary to communicate with all partners in
aviation security promptly and thoroughly. If all of the partners
are not on the same page at the same time, the system is bound to
fail.
It
will likely become a part of the discussion in the next few weeks
that the security posture of our airport operators needs to be
improved as well. I would caution here that “one size does not
fit all” in this discussion. However, if airports are required
to vastly increase their security posture, they must be provided
with the resources to do so.
It
is important to note one distinction here between airlines and
airports. Airlines are intended to be for profit enterprises.
Particularly at this time in our economy, we hope that they are in
fact for profit.
Airport
operators, on the other hand, are with few if any exceptions, not
for profit, government agencies. Particularly in the case of
smaller airports, operators are typically supported by some form
of property or ad valorum tax revenues. In our case, the Central
Illinois Regional Airport is approximately 38% tax dependent.
As
recently as September 20th, the financial markets
recognized the gravity of the situation surrounding commercial air
transportation and elected to place all North American airports on
“credit watch.” This
action will have significant impact on all airports that have
bonding authority and will severely hamper our ability to raise
capital. Further, Standard and Poor’s has made the statement
that in their view “airports and airlines are inextricably
linked. Airports are suffering from the same problems as
airlines---increased costs due to security……and dramatically
reduced revenues.” In their statement, Standard and Poor’s
calls on Congress to grant FAA “immediate and broad authority to
reimburse airports for extraordinary costs for security to
maintain financial viability.”
I
would ask that this committee seriously consider this action but
also consider providing for the resources necessary so that
airport operators can improve our overall security posture. We
looked at Central Illinois Regional Airport to determine what
resources it would take to improve our posture. If we were to
match the security levels in place at larger airports, our quick
analysis of need would call for an investment of nearly $1.8
million in one - time expenses with ongoing investment of nearly
$500,000.00 annually. That Mr. Chairman is a tough pill for a
small airport to swallow without some help.
Mr.
Chairman and members of the Committee, I would like to thank you
for the opportunity to address you here this afternoon. Not only
do I thank you personally but professionally as well. Often small
airports are overlooked in discussions of this nature. Our needs
and abilities are different than our larger brothers and sisters.
It is comforting to know that in this case, we have had the
opportunity to share them with you.
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