Baggage Screening System Down at Airport

As reported in the SXM Daily Herald, the x-ray baggage screening system has been down for three days now. Some passengers had to leave their luggage behind when they departed Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) Tuesday. Baggage had to be lugged to the airport employee screening area for security checks and clearance. However, this contingency arrangement could not cope fast enough with the large number of bags that had to be processed and many passengers were left without some, or all, of their luggage. Flights were not delayed because of the scanning problem, but the schedules were maintained at the expense of passenger luggage. No official word was received from the airport Tuesday about when the problem would be fixed. In the meantime, luggage continues to pile up. PJIA director of operations Larry Donker said in a press statement Monday that the technical department in cooperation with the maintenance provider of the hold baggage system was working to resolve the problem.