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Sep 9, 2006 2:54 pm US/Eastern
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Airport Buying New Scanners For US Airways
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
An increase in the amount of checked luggage at Pittsburgh International Airport has prompted the county to upgrade an automated baggage system before the busy holiday travel season.
The Allegheny County Airport Authority voted Friday to spend up to $303,215 to buy new scanners for the baggage system used by US Airways, which accounts for more than half of all passengers at the airport.
Since airports began banning items last month such as shampoo, toothpaste, moisturizers and other liquids from carry-on luggage, checked luggage at Pittsburgh International Airport increased about 35 percent, said Kent George, executive director of the airport authority.
The liquids ban went into effect after British authorities said they thwarted a plot to smuggle bomb components aboard several U.S.-bound flights.
New baggage readers are needed to keep up with the high volume of checked bags, George said.
The readers scan tags attached to luggage at check-in and direct bags to the appropriate gate for outbound flights and the appropriate carousel for pickups from arriving flights.
The current system has a 62 percent to 65 percent efficiency rate, he said. The new readers should increase that to 90 percent or 95 percent.
Accu-Sort Systems Inc., which will provide the new equipment, also has supplied readers for a separate baggage system used by other airlines at the airport.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)