Your flight leaves at 8 a.m. You give yourself more than enough time to get to the airport. As fate would have it, you’re held up by a traffic jam. You rush into the terminal, bags in hand, expecting a long line at the ticket counter.

Surprisingly, the line is short. Stepping up to the counter, you check in and send your bag through to be screened for explosives. Total time for check-in? You check your watch and breathe a sigh of relief. Only 10 minutes and the best part is you still have time for that cup of java before boarding your flight.

Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, air travel in the United States changed dramatically. Initially, new security measures created long lines at ticket counters and security checkpoints. Threats and vulnerabilities within the airport system were analyzed. And Congress mandated that every checked bag on every flight at U.S. airports be screened for explosives by the end of the year.

With more than 570 million air travelers flying inside this country and nearly 1 billion pieces of checked baggage passing through American airports every year, securing the American homeland and improving air safety has become a national strategy of paramount importance.

Congress assigned the role of securing the American airspace to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The TSA, housed under the Department of Transportation, is responsible for installing and operating 1,100 explosive detection baggage screening machines (EDS) and up to 6,000 explosive trace detection systems (ETD) in more than 400 commercial U.S. airports.

TSA has hired well-known aviation experts, Boeing and its partner, Siemens Corporation, to install the equipment and train the personnel. The Boeing- Siemens technological team is responsible for preparing the sites and installing and maintaining the equipment.

Boeing’s name, synonymous with the history of flight, brings expertise in aerospace and a legacy in cutting edge technology. Siemens is a world leader in baggage handling systems and computed tomography technology. In addition, the Boeing-Siemens team trained more than 23,000 baggage screeners hired by the TSA.

The challenges facing these companies were significant, but not insurmountable. The team hit the ground running and helped the TSA meet its Dec. 31, 2002 deadline by working with airport and airline officials to determine configuration requirements and the number of deployable machines required at each airport terminal. Extensive modeling and simulation tests analyzed data such as passenger movement, terminal space and baggage flow rates to develop customized screening systems for each and every airport.

The resulting data gave the TSA and the Boeing-Siemens team information to recommend the number of equipment and staff needed to deploy the machines as well as the usage rates and various screening configurations and policy decisions.

There’s no doubt about it. The flying experience has become a different reality. Passengers are learning to accept the changing landscape of travel, whether it’s another search at the gate before boarding a flight or the ever-watchful eye of an onboard sky marshal.

Airports have become part of the national defense infrastructure. Pilots are no longer the last line of defense against terrorism. Instead, American ingenuity and emerging technologies will continue to be our greatest front line defense. By maintaining a vigilant eye over airport security, TSA will have the tools to help stop terrorism in its tracks and help the struggling aviation industry get back on its feet again.