Background on PP5 Airports
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, or ATSA, required TSA to establish pilot projects at up to five airports where screening would be performed by employees of qualified private companies under federal oversight. The law required those contract screeners to meet all the requirements applicable to federal screeners, and required the program be in place no later than November 19, 2002.
To satisfy the ATSA requirement, TSA entered into contracts for pilot programs at the following airports. These airports became known as the Pilot Program 5, or PP5 airports:
- San Francisco International Airport;
- Kansas City International Airport;
- Greater Rochester International Airport;
- Jackson Hole Airport; and,
- Tupelo Regional Airport.
In November of 2004, the PP5 program ended, however ATSA included a provision to expand the pilot program by allowing any airport to “opt-out” of federal passenger and baggage screening, choosing instead to have private companies provide these services. This opt-out program became the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP.
Today, all of the original PP5 airports are participants in SPP, and interest in opting out is continuing to grow at airports and heliports across the Nation.
PP5 Background | Airport Liability Law | ATSA | SAFETY Act
