A high-tech security screening unit is being installed at Salem Municipal Airport (SLE), which will check travellers’ baggage onto departing flights from SLE.
The unit will bolster the physical screening process for passengers as they prepare to fly, alongside the passport biometric matching procedures at e-gates. The X-ray unit will free up the time of border security staff inside the airport instead of conducting manual inspections. Only in the event a security alarm is raised will TSA officers need to be present to check bags manually.
The new scanner leverages computed tomography technology to generate a 3-D image of the contents of the checked bag with a sophisticated algorithm that can detect the presence of explosives.
The screening of checked baggage at SLE had previously been conducted manually by TSA officers using explosive trace detection equipment.
Travelers flying out of SLE with checked luggage will still need to go to the ticket counter to get their baggage tagged by the airline.
They will then take their tagged bag to the new checked baggage scanner where TSA officers will place the bag on the belt to be screened through the CT scanner while the passenger proceeds to the security checkpoint.
