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Screening at Rota airport sees upgrade
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Posted on Nov 18 2004
Changes are being eyed to improve the screening process at the Rota International Airport, following Cape Air’s recent donation of Transportation Security Administration-approved inspection equipment to the airport.
The Commonwealth Ports Authority on Rota, however, will not receive the machines until the Rota airport gets the personnel who could operate the devices. Meantime, the equipment has been lent to the Guam International Airport Authority.
Cape Air-Pacific administrator Russell C. Price said the airline donated the machines as part of its efforts “in building the infrastructure that will support increased air service to the region.”
He said the screening equipment will provide an important security link to the needs of the region. But because Rota is currently not funded to staff such machines, the equipment was lent to Guam.
“It remains, however, our intention that once Rota is capable of staffing, supporting and operating these devices, Cape Air will donate them for use in Rota,” Price said.
In response, Rota Senator Paul A. Manglona said the Rota Legislative Delegation is planning various steps to enhance screening at the island’s airport.
For one, the delegation will be arranging a meeting with TSA officials to address TSA compliance at the Rota airport, he said. “Once a TSA presence has been established on Rota, the donated equipment will greatly facilitate the security screening process for the people of the CNMI and Cape Air’s passengers,” Manglona told Price in a letter.
The delegation also seeks to eliminate the “reverse screening process” [passengers are screened as they alight the plane] at the airport, as it could be inconvenient for passengers.
Responding to calls from the airline and tourism industries, the Division of Customs did away with a requirement for Saipan-bound passengers who are transiting Rota from Guam to go through Customs inspection twice.
Because Rota is the CNMI’s first port of entry, all transiting passengers used to be required to have their luggage inspected at Rota, and then go through the same process when they get to Saipan.
