TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa International Airport is holding off on changes to its security operations.
The airport was discussing a switch to the TSA Gold Plus program. That program would have allowed the airport to privately contract security.
Leaders enrolled in the program and had planned to launch it in May. One goal was to safeguard passengers from future government shutdowns. However, after reviewing the program, facility leaders decided against it.
“Well you know, the tech component was a big decision maker for us,” said John Tiliacos, the airport’s chief operating officer. “We weren’t quite satisfied we weren’t getting all the answers to questions regarding technology. so that was a pretty big factor in our decision to opt out.”
Leaders said they only chose to opt into the program originally to learn more about the benefits.
Tampa International has almost 800 TSA workers.
According to CNN, The Gold Plus program expands upon an existing program that has been used by a handful of airports featuring privatized screening by also allowing them to manage the screening technology.
There are 20 airports in the United States that have private companies operating the security checkpoints supervised by the TSA under the Screening Partnership Program.
San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Sarasota-Bradenton, Orlando-Sanford and 17 smaller airports participate.
The Gold+ program builds on the TSA’s long-running Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which has been in place for 25 years. Under the SPP, the TSA continues to oversee airport security while private companies employ security screeners.