The Federal Aviation Administration has for months been weighing whether to allow the nation's more than 500 federally subsidized airports to spend their money on screening passengers for the coronavirus, an issue teed up by a plan developed by an airport in Iowa.
Marty Lenss, director of the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, began working on the plan in the spring, when the spread of the virus and lockdown orders brought air travel to a near standstill.
Lenss worked with a local hospital to craft a plan to quickly screen travelers before they passed through security. He figured he could cover the $800,000 cost by using some of the $23 million the airport received under the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
The local airport commission signed off on the plan in July, agreeing to make the screening mandatory. At a public meeting shortly before the vote, Lenss predicted he would have the program up and running by September.
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But months after Lenss started work, no passengers have been screened. Airport funds are tightly controlled by federal rules, so Lenss started asking the FAA in May about whether his plan qualified. He's still waiting for an answer.
"We would have started the FAA conversation much earlier if we'd anticipated the time it's been taking," Lenss said. "At this point, I really don't have a timeline when we might hear. We're in limbo."
In a statement, the FAA said it is continuing to review the proposal, and that whatever decision it reaches will apply to all 500 of the nation's federally backed airports.
With the federal government doing little to set mandatory standards for how airlines and airports should keep passengers and employees safe during the pandemic, they have been experimenting with their own approaches. But the delay in Cedar Rapids shows how even those efforts can run afoul of the federal bureaucracy.
As the virus has continued to spread, the limits of health screenings have become clearer, but Lenss said his airport's approach could be adapted to incorporate testing, which the aviation industry is increasingly enthusiastic about. The Iowa airport's plan stands out because unlike testing projects some airlines and airports are doing in trials, the screening would be mandatory.
Lenss approached Mercy Medical Center, a hospital in Cedar Rapids, to help design the program. Tim Charles, the hospital's chief executive, said he was eager to help.
"What piqued our interest is we understand and appreciate completely that the airport is a port, for heaven sakes. It's a major intersection for coming and going in the community and an economic driver," Charles said.
Within weeks, a team at the hospital had come up with a plan, building on measures put in place to control access to the medical center.
Passengers would meet a screening technician immediately before the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, have their temperature taken and be asked a few questions about their health. Screeners could reach an initial verdict in 15 seconds, Lenss said, allowing passengers to pass through at least as quickly as they can get though the TSA gate.
AIRLINES' CALL
Those that failed the initial screening would be pulled aside for more checks and could be connected to a doctor remotely. Passengers who appeared to be ill would be advised not to travel and referred back to their airline's check-in desk. Airlines would have the final say as to whether infected passengers could continue on their flights.
"We were very excited that it was really a nice layered approach in trying to restore traveler confidence and really get the industry back on its feet," Lenss said.
It's up to airlines, whose ticket forms a contract with passengers, to determine who can and can't fly. The Cedar Rapids airport is relatively small, but it is used by American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, three of the nation's four big carriers, as well as Allegiant and Frontier, two low-cost airlines. The combination could make it a promising proving ground.
Hilarie Grey, a spokeswoman for Allegiant, said the carrier was familiar with the plan and supported Lenss's efforts.
"But generally would favor a national solution that is consistent, so passengers would know what to expect regardless of where they are traveling," Grey said.
Stacy Day, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, said the company was working with airports including Eastern Iowa "in a continued effort to help protect customer and team member health and safety and instill confidence in air travel."
The three other airlines did not respond to a request for comment on the plan.
PROGRAM'S SCALE
Some 660,000 passengers departed from Eastern Iowa Airport in 2019, making it the nation's 115th busiest, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. But Charles said the program could be expanded for far larger airports.
"The genius of this in our opinion was that it was extremely scalable," he said.
But the program's potential success could be one of the things complicating the FAA's review, according to Dan Reimer, an attorney for the airport. Under Lenss' plan, the cost of the program would initially be covered by the virus relief money, but it could ultimately end up being passed on to airlines.
Congress has imposed tight rules on how airport revenue can be used, including a $10 billion pot of coronavirus relief money it set aside for airports in March. The protections are supposed to stop local governments from siphoning cash from their airports for other purposes, but they can make it hard for airports to take on new initiatives.
Lenss and Reimer said they are confident Eastern Iowa's plan falls within the law. Nonetheless, they opted to seek the FAA's approval up front.
"We didn't want to start it and then have, 'Oh, wait a minute, that's not eligible,' and then we'd already spent money," Lenss said.