PT World | Sept 2025
Philip Butterworth-Hayes
29 September 2025
Airports, airlines and agencies continue to take small but steady steps toward seamless aviation security
In July 16, 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Transportation Security Agency (TSA) published a request for information (RFI) for security companies to work with the agency on developing “checkpoint of the future integrated turnkey solutions”.
For years, airports, airlines, government security agencies and technology suppliers have been working toward a relatively aligned vision of what this ‘checkpoint of the future’ will look like: a tunnel – or network – of sensors, through which airport passengers pass without stopping, while the sensors collate data from biometric identification and remote security scanners, only providing alerts and human intervention if the sensor data throws up an anomaly.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) first showed a mock-up of such a checkpoint back in 2011 but it is only now that the technology and institutional arrangements are being put in place to make this vision a reality.
There are two key elements in the TSA’s request for information that it hopes will pave the way for faster, smarter screening procedures along the lines of IATA’s vision. The first is the extension of its Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which enables TSA to contract with private screening companies at the request of the airport to provide screening services under TSA’s direction and oversight; the other is a raft of new technologies.
Security: Check Yourself - Passenger Terminal World | Sept 2025 - PT World - 29 Sept 2025 - p23 - 29
