PORTLAND — There will be less waiting and less lifting for airline passengers once the Portland International Jetport installs a system that can detect explosives in checked baggage.
The airport has been awarded a $9.2 million federal grant to install the baggage system, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, announced Tuesday.
Jetport officials said the $9.2 million is a key component of a planned $73 million airport expansion.
“This funding will help ensure that state-of-the-art technology is employed to boost security for passengers traveling through Maine’s largest airport,” Collins said in a prepared statement.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has directed more than 30 percent of its allocated stimulus funds to projects around the U.S. Portland’s was one of four airports nationally to receive money Tuesday.
Paul Bradbury, the airport’s director, said the $9.2 million will help pay to integrate the explosive-detection system into the airport expansion.
Construction of a 145,000-square-foot square terminal – which will double the size of the existing terminal – is scheduled to begin next spring.
Bradbury said the new system will let passengers leave baggage at the ticket counter, rather than dragging it to screening machines in the terminal lobby.
Passengers won’t see their baggage again until they disembark from their flights.
A state-of-the-art conveyor system and new explosive-detection units will screen each piece of baggage and sort it by risk potential.
Bags deemed suspicious will be moved to a screen resolution room for further analysis.
Bradbury said the new system will require less personnel, which means some screening agents can be redeployed to the area where passengers’ carry-on bags are screened.
The carry-on security area will be expanded from four to six lanes.
That, combined with more personnel, should shorten waiting periods, Bradbury said.
During the peak morning boarding hour – 6 to 7 a.m. – the jetport can process as many as 550 passengers.