The busy travel season of summer has begun and Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is trying to make security more efficient for passengers taking off on their next vacation.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) unveiled a new security concept called CATSA Plus on Tuesday to cut down on wait times.
CATSA spokesperson Mathieu Larocque told CTV News Toronto the new project, which costs $3.8 million to implement, has now launched at American departures in Terminal One at Pearson.
“It’s a collection of innovations that have been tested over the years – successfully tested over the years – at several airports combined into one high performing screening line,” Larocque said.
The upgrade has passengers enter through e-gates, which anonymously track them using censors mounted on the ceilings in the area as they move through security – lowering the amount of times boarding passes need to be shown.
Then passengers will line up in one of the seven lanes – originally there were 10 lanes – to unload their belongings in designated bins. This process can be done by four people at a time, opposed to before when only one person was able to do so at a time.
Each of the bins has an identification tag for proper tracking. As well, a photo is taken of each bin prior to it entering the x-ray system.
Once the bin enters the x-ray device, screen officers who are in another room can either reject or clear the passenger’s belongings.
Bins that need to be further searched will be automatically diverted into another area, away from the lanes so there is no hold up for other passengers.
All of the bins that have been cleared by security are automatically returned to the front of the line, preventing screening officers from conducting this extra step. Passengers will also gather their items from the cleared bins off to the side to prevent any additional hold up for those behind them in line.
“The goal of this concept is to improve the passenger experience and improve security and there are several features that achieve just that,” Larocque said.
Although they do not know exactly how many more people they can pass through security in comparison to the old system the amount has definitely improved with these new lineups in place, he added.
The old system could screen 160 people in an hour, according to Larocque.
“With this system we’re still in the evaluation process. We still need a bit of time to precisely evaluate the number of passengers we can screen per hour but there is definitely an improvement.”
Passengers got the chance to try out the new security system on Tuesday. Some of these people said they are finding it more efficient, while others think they are still trying to get used to it.
One passenger, who did not provide her name, told CTV News Toronto it did not seem like screening officers knew what they were doing while trying out the new system on Tuesday.
“I’ve gone through the system once so far and it seems like people are still getting used to it but I guess it has some potential,” she said. “There’s hope for the future.”
The new security lines have been slowly appearing at Pearson since April, with the final installation of the seven new fast lanes this week.
This system is already being used in both Montreal and Calgary.
