A state-of-the-art X-ray machine that can detect plastic explosives and weapons in baggage will soon be in operation at O`Hare International Airport, an American Airlines spokesman said Tuesday.
In addition, officials at O`Hare are planning a major two-year effort to increase airport security.
”We expect when we finish it will become a prototype for the rest of the nation,” said Ira Harris, O`Hare`s chief security officer.
Harris said the Chicago Department of Aviation will make a formal announcement later of plans for extensive security improvements.
The tighter measures will include a computer entry system to regulate employee access to sensitive areas, Harris said. A personnel training program, better perimeter lighting, and a closed circuit television system are other likely improvements, he said.
Airlines select their own baggage X-ray systems, Harris said.
American Airlines plans to install 19 of the new X-ray machines at airports in the U.S. and Europe by mid-February, at a cost of about $2 million, said American spokesman Tom Stack.
The equipment will screen baggage on international flights from Chicago, New York, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Raleigh-Durham and several European cities, he said. American has four flights a day to Europe.
”The key difference between this and other equipment is that it has the ability to detect organic and inorganic materials,” Stack said.
”There are some plastics that can`t be detected (by older X-ray machines) and this one can detect them,” he said.
The machine also can detect heroine and cocaine, Stack said.
The Astrophysics Research Corp., of Long Beach, Cal., makes the machine, called the E-Scan system. An estimated 200 of the machines, which went on the market early last year, are in use by airlines, customs facilities, prisons and courthouses.
But no X-ray machine is foolproof, said Richard Lally, assistant vice president for security at the Air Transport Association, which represents airlines.
”The X-ray is an image of what`s in the bag,” he said. ”It`s not an explosives detector.”
Because of that, airlines take other precautions against terrorism on international flights, Lally said.
”There`s a lot more to security than the passenger sees,” he said.
Stack said American is more carefully screening passengers on international flights.
Officials are analyzing passenger profiles. For example, a frequent flyer who pays with a credit card and has a business address has a different profile than a person who has no business address and pays in cash, Stack said.
The new security precautions aren`t likely to significantly increase the time it takes passengers to board international flights, he said.
”Still, every time you step up a security measure, you`re adding some additional time or inconvenience to the passenger,” he said.
But Stack said passengers` willingness to undergo tighter security is heightened by disasters like last month`s explosion on a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed all 259 people aboard.
”Most people are interested in extra security,” he said.
