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American Morning
FAA May Ground A300s For Tests; Iris Scanning Debuts at Airports
Aired March 12, 2002 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As early as today, the Federal Aviation Administration could ground some Airbus 300 jets so that the tail sections can undergo ultrasonic testing. The two-week-long tests are being ordered after it was revealed just yesterday that a plane, which experienced rudder problems in 1997, had previous, undetected damage.
It was an Airbus A300 jetliner, American Airlines Flight 587, that crashed into the New York neighborhood of Far Rockaway last November. To find out just what this means to investigators, we turn to CNN's Kathleen Koch, who is standing by at Reagan National Airport near Washington with the very latest for us this morning -- good morning, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, first of all, what this means is that when the FAA, right after the Flight 587 crash, told airlines, and told FedEx and UPS -- it is American Airlines, FedEx, and UPS who fly these Airbus A300s -- they told them, go look at those tail sections, see if you see any damage. If you don't see any damage, then they're likely fine. What this means, now, is that there can be damage that is unseen, that is undetected, and that only be found with one of these ultrasound checks they put this particular fail fin through.
Now, does that mean that there was any undetected damage, perhaps, on Flight 587's tail fin? Well, interestingly, 587 itself was involved in a very severe air turbulence incident over Martinique back in 1994. There was visual inspection of that tail fin then, and they found no problems. But what this might lead investigators to look further into is, was there hidden damage to that tail fin from that incident that might have been a contributing cause to bringing the plane down -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, Kathleen in addition to that, I know you have got a busy day because you are going to be following that. I understand there is also a report coming out today about the impact of September 11th on the aviation industry. Any ideas of what it says?
KOCH: Well Paula, basically it's the Federal Aviation Administration's annual commercial aviation forecast. It just happens to come out six months after 9/11. And first of all, it found out everything that we already know, that the airlines are losing a lot of money, $7 billion in losses since 9/11. That's through the entire year, I should say, of 2001.
But the good news is that things are starting to look up, that passengers are returning to the skies. That when you look at, say, the month of September, when travelers were off 35 percent. Then went it up, 22 percent in October, 20 percent November, 15 percent December, January, then February up to 10 percent. So people are coming back.
FAA says that means that overall, air traffic is going to rebound. Take a look at 2001, where it was off by .8 percent. By 2002, they say we are still going to be off for this whole year by about 12 percent, but then by the following year, 2003, we're going to jump back up to 14 percent. Now, that will still put us right about at a two percent growth, and then by 2003, we'll be up at 4 percent and stay there through 2013. That's the average rate of growth.
So, Paula, they say that things are looking up, and the Federal Aviation Administration says that, basically, this means that they are going to work hard to build more runways, to increase capacity for the increased demand that does lie ahead.
ZAHN: Interesting. I one, one (ph) -- oh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soon enough, the community will again be faced with the challenge of meeting (AUDIO GAP) demand. We could at some airports be experiencing delays this summer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, no delays, though, at this airport, Paula. Here at Reagan National, they are still only up to about 75, 76 percent, so no delays here, but looking around the country, actually come the end of the year, that might be when we will be seeing more of that, in the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2003. Back to you.
ZAHN: All right. Well, thanks for covering so much territory. Appreciate the preview of this government report that is coming out later today. Thanks, Kathleen. Kathleen Koch.
Let's go back to Jack, now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Paula.
Well, travelers at some of the nation's airports today are going to encounter new security that, I suppose, is almost fool-proof. Our editor-at-large from "Fortune" Magazine Andy Serwer is here with me now to talk about technology at the airports.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": This is really exciting stuff, Jack. Of course anyone who has traveled since 9/11 knows all about those long lines at security checkpoints and airports. This new technology, it is an iris recognition -- there are some of those long lines -- the new technology is iris recognition scanning technology. What it does is it takes a picture of your eye, and then when you show up at a checkpoint, it recognizes you. As of today, travelers at Heathrow and Dulles and JFK will be taking part in this program, certain travelers on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic and a small company in Northern Virginia called EyeTicket is rolling this technology out. And, you know, they are going to go slowly here, but if it works out, this could really change the whole way we go through checkpoints.
CAFFERTY: Will this be like a passport thing, you go and have your eye photographed once, and it is entered into the system, and then, when you show up at the airport, the system will call up what it has on file and compare to what it sees in the machine, is that...
SERWER: Yeah, that's exactly how works. You get your picture taken first, and goes into a database. Next time you show up at the airport, you tell them who you are, and then it takes a picture and matches it with the iris picture in the database, and then you are whisked through. It takes, literally, two seconds for it to -- less than that, for it to recognize you as you go through.
CAFFERTY: Any downside to this? I'm thinking of somebody behind the counter typing in the wrong letter -- there has -- there will be a mistake, and somebody will be accused of being a terrorist or something.
SERWER: That's why they are going slowly here, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: There's a couple things. First of all, they are only doing frequent fliers. Some people are saying it is unfair for the ordinary tourist traveler. There is a debate about how accurate it is. Obviously, the advocates say it is more accurate even than a finger print, but, you know, there are possibilities for error. Interestingly, one other place this has been used in the world is in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were using it to take pictures of pilgrims who were coming for the Hajj to Mecca, so that was rolled out there. Apparently, that was successful. It is also being used, a little bit, for airline personnel. They are going to try it in Frankfurt. They are going slow. If it works, it's really going to be something that could change the way we go through those long, long lines.
CAFFERTY: And it can certainly change the financial prospects for the company that has come up with this.
SERWER: A little company called EyeTicket, still private, for anyone out there who is looking to invest in them, but they could be headed for a big-time windfall.
CAFFERTY: All right. Thanks, Andy. Good to see you.
SERWER: Okay, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Andy Serwer, "Fortune" Magazine.
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