Checkpoint shields installed to boost covid-19 protection at Arnold Palmer airport

Acrylic shields are in place at the security checkpoint at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport as an added measure to help prevent the spread of covid-19.

Installed the week of Dec. 18, the shields are meant to provide enhanced protection for passengers boarding Spirit Airlines flights and Transportation Security Administration officers who staff the checkpoint.

The transparent barriers are in areas of the Unity airport’s terminal building where TSA officers interact with passengers: the podium where travel documents are checked, the area where travelers prepare their carry-on baggage for X-ray screening; and the property search area.

“Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is just the first airport in Pennsylvania other than Philadelphia to receive the protective shields,” said Karen Keys Turner, TSA’s federal security director for the airport, in a news release. “They will continue to be installed at Pennsylvania airports into the spring.”

It’s part of a TSA contract that will install 1,230 such shields at airports across the country.

Slats in the barrier allow passengers to communicate with officers, according to TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.

“At the travel document checking podium, there is a ‘cut-out’ area for the passage of documents,” Farbstein said.

For carry-on baggage, she said, “an officer can reach underneath the shield if the need arises.”

“We encourage all passengers to know what is in their carry-on bags before they get to the checkpoint so that they don’t have any prohibited items inside,” Farbstein said.

To check if an item should be placed in a checked bag or a carry-on bag, visit tsa.gov and click on the words “What Can I Bring?” in the upper right corner, or download the free myTSA app.

The shields join other safety measures in place at the airport, including a requirement for wearing masks in the terminal and an ultraviolet light system in the building’s HVAC unit designed to purify the air and kill bacteria, mold and viruses.

“We’re happy that they chose Arnold Palmer so quickly” for the shields, said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority that operates the airport.

According to figures provided by the authority, as of Monday, there were 4,403 outbound passengers and 3,761 inbound passengers booked on flights between the Unity airport and destinations in Florida for Dec. 1 to 31. That compares to a combined actual passenger total of 22,541 in December 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic arrived and triggered a drastic decline in air travel.