LAX Debuts New Automated Screening Designed To Cut Wait Times

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Just in time for the Thanksgiving travel bedlam, authorities at Los Angeles International Airport Friday unveiled five automated screening lanes designed to speed up the security process in the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

The lanes allow several passengers to concurrently fill trays with personal belongings, and then proceed to the body scanners, allowing more passengers to be screened each hour, according to Los Angeles World Airports.

"Once you put your items in the trays, you can push your trays up onto the conveyor... and then you can walk up straight up to the body scanner, and maybe bypass someone who needs to take a little more time," said Aura Moore, deputy executive director for LAWA.

Under the $12.3-million project, 14 of the 16 screening lanes at the terminal will be replaced with the new technology by spring of 2018. Once complete, the new lanes are expected to cut wait times by 30 percent. It will allow nearly 1,100 more passengers per hour to be screened.

LAX is one of 11 airports nationwide that use automated screening.

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