The Springfield Branson National Airport now features state-of-the-art scanning technology. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began deploying the Advanced Imaging Technology(AIT) units to airports in 2008. The machines are designed to safely screen passengers for both metallic and non-metallic threats that can be concealed under clothing, all while preserving passenger privacy.
Kent Boyd is the spokesman for the Springfield Branson National Airport.
“The main advantage that I take away from this for customers, is that people who have metal in their bodies, from surgery, screws in their hips and things like that, those sort of things would set off the old fashioned metal detectors, and of course the TSA had no way of knowing what it was and would have to pull them aside and do a full body search. With this new technology apparently, it will tell TSA,” Boyd said.
There are close to 740 AIT units deployed at nearly 160 airports nationwide, according to the TSA. The federal agency says that hundreds of prohibited, illegal or dangerous items are detected by the units at checkpoints daily.
The imaging technology is said to meet all known national and international health and safety standards. But passengers are entitled to decline using the AIT and instead receive a pat down.
The new scanning equipment is currently in use at the Springfield airport. TSA officers at the facility began their training on the equipment in November.