Airlines may not have to worry about passenger screening anymore, but that does not mean they are off the hook financially when it comes to aviation security.

        Whether it is freight companies such as DHL Worldwide Express or passenger carriers such as Delta Air Lines, airlines are facing higher security costs — and lost revenue — in the cargo arena.

Delta Dash agent Clifford Meyers assists a customer at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Revenue from the company's cargo shipping program has declined. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        For example, Delta and other passenger carriers are seeing a major crimp in revenue because of stricter regulations on the kinds of mail and freight they can carry, while cargo airlines are facing huge expenses for having to reinforce cockpit doors, especially because many freight planes do not even have such doors.

        In announcing a total quarter loss of $162 million for the second quarter, Delta chairman and chief executive officer Leo Mullin said security issues will cost the company $700 million annually.

        Than includes a $25 million hit in air cargo and mail for the second quarter alone, plus an additional $41 million in higher insurance costs and another $70 million in additional security fees that cannot be passed on to customers because of the tough pricing environment. In addition, the company is spent another $20 million on security improvements in the second quarter.

        “We are 45-50 percent down on our revenue stream from mail,” said Tony Charaf, Delta's senior vice president for air logistics. “It has really been a huge blow to our revenue stream. It's something we're willing to do because of security, although we would like to continue to look for ways to improve the situation.”

        That's in addition to the approximately $650 million loss in revenue the company says it will suffer for the year from the “hassle factor” surrounding airport security, with Delta and other airlines saying many potential travelers are not flying because of the perception that it could take a long time to get through checkpoints.

        Several cargo restrictions have been put into place, especially on passenger carriers, in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks.

        Mr. Charaf says that carriers such as Delta can't carry any express mail, or any mail parcels that weigh more than 1 pound. Delta, which operates it second-largest hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, handles about 1.2 million pounds of mail daily throughout its system; Erlanger-based regional carrier Comair carried 8 million pounds of cargo in 2000, its last full year of normal operations. Of that total, 65 percent was mail.

        In addition, passenger airlines cannot carry cargo or freight from anyone who was not verified as a “known shipper” prior to Sept. 11, Mr. Charaf says.

        Bill Wilkening, manager of dangerous goods and air cargo security for the Transportation Security Administration, would not confirm or deny specific regulations. But he did say that much stricter procedures for shipping on passenger planes have been implemented.

        “It's all based on the size of aircraft that the airline flies,” Mr. Wilkening said. “We have put a lot more emphasis on the passenger carriers in what they can carry.”

        Airline officials say that they have gone to great lengths, and sometimes great trouble, to meet the requirements.

        “It's caused a lot of misunderstandings when someone who wanted to ship some extra luggage on Delta Dash is told they can't,” said Mr. Charaf, who oversees the company's Delta Dash cargo shipping program. “But it just doesn't work that way anymore.”

        Officials with Comair said that the airline is escaping a major impact on cargo revenue, possibly because its planes and fleet are smaller than those of major carriers.

        Airline security critic Robert Monetti says that while such “known shipper” programs are an improvement, they also can be circumvented.

        “It assumes that because something can be tracked, someone isn't willing to send it, and we've seen the lengths to which these people can go,” says Mr. Monetti , president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 Inc., which represents families of those who died in the plane that was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland. “Just because it might have a label from IBM, that doesn't mean it came from there. I can steal IBM shipping labels just like anyone else can.”

        Then there is the cockpit door issue.

        Comair officials say that they are spending nearly $2 million to permanently reinforce its cockpit doors by next spring, as required by federal regulators since the Sept. 11 attacks (all doors have been temporarily reinforced). Delta would not say how much it is spending on its doors.

        But cargo companies, which don't carry passengers, or just carry a few company employees, are fighting the rule.

        Atlanta-based UPS, which operates its main air hub in Louisville, says 80 percent of its airplanes don't even have cockpit doors. The company has already applied for an exemption, and been denied, to the cockpit door rule.

        UPS spokesman Norman Black said the company would retry, saying that retrofitting its fleet could cost the company millions, if not billions, but would not give a specific figure.

        “These are planes that are designed specifically for freight, and a door may not even be feasible,” Mr. Black said. “Not to sound flip, but when has one of our packages jumped up and attacked someone?

        “And it goes deeper than that. We need the government to recognize that we are different in nature and scope than the passenger airlines.”

        TSA officials, who now oversee the issue, would not comment.

        If such an exemption were granted, DHL Airways also would like to be included. The airline carries the freight for DHL Worldwide Express, which operates its domestic hub locally.

        All of DHL's 36 planes have cockpit doors, but none has been permanently strengthened. DHL is privately held, and does not post its results publicly.

        “We are still evaluating the costs, but suffice it to say, it will cost in the multimillions of dollars to do this,” DHL Airways spokeswoman Joanne Smith said. “We're not active in these protests, but if exemptions are allowed, we would request one as well.”

        Federal Express has taken a different tack. The Memphis-based air express giant has endorsed the idea of strengthening its cockpit doors, with its own history as a motivator.

        In 1994, one of its pilots, flying as a passenger while off-duty, attacked the flight crew, nearly causing the plane to crash. The flight engineer was later discovered to be a disgruntled employee who was on the verge of termination.

        “We are voluntarily participating with this program,” said David Webb, a pilot with the company and the chairman of Federal Express' pilots union.
       

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