The Atlanta City Council has approved a feasibility study into whether it can ditch the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and replace federal workers with a private security screening company.
The resolution was passed on Monday following a vote by councillors after Atlanta Hartsfield was hit by major delays at TSA security checkpoints during the last partial federal government shutdown that stretched through February and March.
During the shutdown, up to 36% of TSA officers assigned to work on any given day didn’t show up for work as planned, leading to “multi-hour wait times, canceled flights, and substantial economic harm to the traveling public and regional economy,” the resolution explains.
In contrast, airports that don’t use the TSA, such as San Francisco, Kansas City, and Orlando, didn’t experience similar disruptions with wait times to clear the security checkpoints remaining normal throughout the shutdown…