File Photo/Reuters
WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday said it wants to boost the number of airport screening officers by 2,540 as it forecasts a faster return to pre-COVID U.S. air travel levels.
The Biden administration budget released on Monday seeks to boost the number of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening officer positions by about 5% and add $242.6 million. The TSA currently is budgeted for around 45,000 full-time transportation security officers.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger volume grew at a rate of 4.5% annually for three consecutive years, TSA said.
In 2020 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. passenger airline traffic sank 60.1% to the lowest level since 1984.
"The return of passenger traffic was expected to take several years, but updated projections showed TSA returning to (fiscal year) 2019 levels in (fiscal year) 2022, a year earlier than initially planned," TSA said.
The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
The TSA added that it expects in the 2023 fiscal year for passenger volume growth to return to the historical growth rate of 4.5%, reaching 3 million per day by the summer travel period.
The TSA screened 585.3 million travelers in 2021, which was still down about 31% over pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2019.
The department said the increase will help ensure that the "traveling public does not experience excessive wait times."
The TSA separately plans to eliminate staffing at exit lanes and turn over responsibility to airports, a move that will save $94.1 million and eliminate the equivalent of 1,090 federal employee positions.
