Cincinnati airport still not checking all bags electronically

HEBRON, KENTUCKY - The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is screening all checked baggage for bombs, but still is not scanning all of that luggage electronically. <br> <br> It is one of 29 airports that were not checking all bags electronically by Dec. 31, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Congress had given the federal Transportation Security Administration a Dec. 31 deadline to electronically screen all checked baggage for explosives. <br> <br> Lawmakers extended that deadline because some airports weren&#39;t able to add the electronic scanners to existing bag management systems in time. Congress has allowed the use of alternative means for scanning until electronic screening can be installed. <br> <br> About 400 other airports have made the changes, which Congress ordered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the newspaper said. <br> <br> TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said Wednesday that more than 400 airports are screening all checked baggage electronically. He declined to provide specific numbers of airports using either electronic or alternative screening methods or a combination of both. <br> <br> ``All baggage is being screened at all airports, either through electronic or alternative means,&#39;&#39; Johnson said, adding that the Cincinnati airport is using a combination of electronic and alternative methods. <br> <br> The federal agency, which is responsible for airport security, hopes to be able to use machines to screen all luggage by the end of February. The alternative means still being used at some airports include searches of luggage and matching bags with passengers. Luggage won&#39;t be accepted if its owner does not board the aircraft. <br> <br> Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Transportation Committee&#39;s appropriations subcommittee, said the TSA told him that construction delays prevented the Cincinnati airport from reaching 100 percent electronic screening. Some of the delays involved work on a conveyor to support an automated bag screening system. <br> <br> A woman was arrested Tuesday after she was found to be carrying a loaded .38-caliber handgun in her purse. Airport police charged Donna Parker. of Brooksville, Ky., with carrying a concealed weapon into the airport. She was taken to the Boone County jail. <br> <br> Parker, who has a permit to carry a weapon, told police she forgot the handgun was in her purse. Signs posted around the airport say that guns are forbidden there, even if the person carrying a gun has a permit. <br> <br> The airport, located in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, is a flight hub for Delta Air Lines and home of the Delta-owned Comair commuter airline. About 20 million passengers a year pass through the airport, ranking it 26th nationally. <br> <br> The airport&#39;s main Delta terminal alone can see as many as 1,500 pieces of luggage an hour.