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TSA security to be privatized at Tampa International Airport under new federal program

By CNN

Washington (CNN) — Tampa International Airport will privatize most Transportation Security Administration operations just months after President Donald Trump unveiled a 2027 budget proposal that called for handing more airport security over to private companies. Two other airports, in Iowa an South Carolina, are also taking steps that could lead to the privatization.

In a statement to CNN on Monday, Tampa International Airport said it “opted in” to the TSA Gold+ program, a new public/private partnership screening program. TSA will still have regulatory oversight of the airport’s screening operations, and the checkpoints will have to follow TSA rules, but the employees will be hired and security equipment managed by a company instead of the federal government.

“TSA looks forward to working closely with our airport partners to implement enhancements that will benefit everyone who travels through a TSA Gold+ airport,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

Participation in the new program is voluntary and requires airports to apply.

“TPA’s decision to join TSA Gold+ reflects the Airport’s strong commitment to modernization, innovation, and operational resilience in aviation security,” the airport told CNN. “The change to privatization not only reduces disruption risks caused by lapses in federal appropriations or government shutdowns but also allows greater flexibility in exploring new screening checkpoint infrastructure and technology to enhance the customer experience.”

The news was first reported by aviation newsletter Gate Access.

The change is targeted for May 31, 2027, a TSA employee in Tampa said they were told during a town hall Monday led by Adam Stahl, acting TSA deputy administrator. Many now face the difficult choice of applying to work at the private contractor, finding other government jobs, transferring to another airport, resigning or taking retirement earlier than they might have planned.

“Some employees were sad, some were crying and others were visibly upset,” the staffer said, noting that workers were told in May that the airport had put in an application for the TSA Gold+ program. “Others put in their retirement paperwork right away.”

TSA officers in Tampa will get the first right of refusal for jobs when a private security vendor is selected, the employee was told.

The latest White House budget proposal, released in April, would require small airports to enroll in TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, under which TSA pays for private screeners. The administration says the move would save $52 million and “begin reform of a troubled Federal agency.”

The Gold+ program expands upon an existing program that has been used by a handful of airports featuring privatized screening by also allowing them to manage the screening technology.

Two other airports are taking steps to privatize security checkpoints under the program.

Charleston International Airport in South Carolina is “formally pursuing a transition,” the airport said in a statement.

“This decision is about investing in the people who protect our travelers every day by providing them with better tools, greater workplace stability, and the support they deserve while continuing to deliver the highest level of aviation security,” said Elliott Summey, the President and CEO of the airport.

Des Moines International Airport is “exploring” privatizing airport security in their new terminal under the TSA Gold+ program, the airport said in a statement.

“TSA Gold+ aligns well with our primary goal which is to make travel EASY,” said Brian Mulcahy, Des Moines Airport Authority CEO. “Travelers would continue to experience the same professional, secure screening process they’re accustomed to, but with newer technology that can help move people through the checkpoint more efficiently.”

There are 20 airports in the United States that have private companies operating the security checkpoints supervised by the TSA under the Screening Partnership Program. San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Orlando Sanford and 17 smaller airports participate.

Privatizing TSA airport screening became a talking point among lawmakers and the president over the past year after government shutdowns disrupted air travel. When TSA employees weren’t being paid some didn’t come to work, leaving some travelers stuck in hours-long lines at airports.

Privatization has been a major concern for the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers nationwide. The union vowed to fight the shift, saying it could jeopardize safety.

“Make no mistake – this is a major departure and step backwards from the aviation screening security system that Congress created in the wake of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 and the deadly bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988,” Everett Kelley, AFGE’s national president, said in a statement. “Changes of this magnitude should not be made behind closed doors without the input of Congress, the flying public, the local airport authorities, and TSA employees themselves.”

Union leaders said in a March news conference that the administration was trying to use the chaos that erupted at airports during the shutdown to show that TSA is in “mission failure.”

“It’s very important that people understand what privatization is,” Johnny Jones, secretary treasurer for AFGE TSA Council 100, said at the news conference. “It has nothing to do with your security or your safety. It has everything to do with somebody making a profit.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

In record heat, a warming world has come to rely on China to stay cool

By CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — With wildfires blazing and temperatures hitting record highs in Europe, one China-made product has never been hotter: air-conditioners.Europeans, who have been slower to adopt AC than those living in other parts of the world, are lining up outside stores and driving long distances in the hopes of securing an AC unit as blistering summer temperatures in some areas surge past 100 degrees Fahrenheit.Major Chinese brands Midea, Gree and Haier are reporting AC higher sales overseas, just as leaders in countries such as France, Germany and Belgium are threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, which they say are damaging their own industries.While air conditioning accounts for a small portion of Chinese exports to the EU, China has seized on the surge in sales as evidence that European consumers need Chinese products.A column recently published by the official state-run news agency Xinhua criticized European policymakers for ignoring the needs of consumers, titled: “The air conditioner paradox: Europe is too hot for tariffs on China.”“Blocking Chinese ACs won’t fix Europe’s problems –– it will only make life harder for ordinary people,” the author of the op-ed wrote.The EU and China will hold discussions over the next few months to address the record trade imbalance of nearly 360 billion euros, or about $406 billion, as of last year. The gap has widened in recent years as China has ramped up exports, particularly of electric and hybrid cars that threaten to displace Europe’s biggest auto brands.“It makes trade negotiations extremely difficult,” said Cameron Johnson, a supply chain expert and senior partner at Tidalwave Solutions, a Shanghai-based consultancy.“If you’re a government, you cannot tell people, ‘Sorry, you can’t have air conditioning because we don’t want Chinese overcapacity.’”‘Too hot for tariffs’Other parts of the world have come to rely on China for air conditioning as well. In the US, where “heat domes” have led to extreme heat warnings in the south and central regions, Chinese brands account for 50% of the market, according to Euromonitor International, a market intelligence company. Globally, that figure reached 65% last year, the firm said.Veronika Kandusova, global insight manager for consumer appliances at Euromonitor International, expects that proportion to increase alongside global temperatures. Chinese brands were able to capitalize on high demand this year, especially in Europe, thanks to flexible supply chains that can rapidly develop new, localized products.European consumers have lagged behind the rest of the world in adopting AC, due to high energy costs, expensive installation fees and restrictions on retrofitting the continent’s older buildings. In the past, summers have not been hot enough to justify the trouble for most homes.The climate crisis is now changing that.Midea Group, one of China’s largest home appliance brands, designed its PortaSplitAC unit specifically for Europe by making it portable, quiet and low enough to keep from blocking European windows. The model has sold more than 200,000 units this year, doubling year-on-year, the company said.“European home appliance markets, long dominated by Bosch, Electrolux, Miele, and other established Western brands by default, are opening competitive gaps that Chinese companies are structurally positioned to fill,” the research firm EqualOcean wrote in a blog post last month. “Midea’s PortaSplit is the product that crystallizes the shift.”Those advantages translate to many other industries that could give China more sway in global trade, said Johnson of Tidalwave Solutions.“This is just the beginning,” he said. “As inflation starts to gain hold in Europe and in the States, people don’t want to pay more for products. So what do you do? Well, you have to have some Chinese stuff.”Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said that European countries are more focused on addressing specific strategic segments and Chinese industrial policies than broadly inhibiting Chinese imports.“The EU is neither looking for complete balance — in the sense that every euro of goods imported must correspond to a euro of goods exported — nor to reduce its reliance on China for more widely available household appliances,” he said.Seeking hotter marketsChina also needs new markets like Europe. Facing a housing slump and declining consumption at home, China has ramped up exports to other nations to buttress slowing economic growth. China ended last year with a record trade surplus of $1.2 trillion.Even with rising exports, China’s reported second-quarter GDP was the lowest in more than three years.Much of China’s recent export strength is driven by high-tech goods like batteries, electric cars and solar. These have become known as the “new three” categories for export growth, as the “old three” –– clothing, furniture, and home appliances –– have tapered.As its summers grow hotter, Europe offers Chinese appliance makers a potential renaissance.Europe has the world’s lowest penetration rates for air conditioning, said Denis Depoux, global managing director at the consultancy Roland Berger, averaging about 20%. That’s compared to 90% penetration in the US, where Chinese exports would also face tariffs.“Europe is the prize,” he said. “If I am a Chinese manufacturer of air conditioning units, Europe is a very attractive market. It’s growing demand, it’s new, it’s affluent, margins are higher.”According to Chinese media, some regions like China’s eastern Shandong province have received government support to boost manufacturing of cooling products and other home appliances this year.Korean and Japanese appliance makers are also benefiting from booming European demand. Meanwhile, University of Michigan economics professor Chris Douglas argued in an op-ed this month that the state of Michigan should manufacture air conditioners for Europe.However, the seasonal nature of cooling demand will limit market opportunities as temperatures eventually ease.“In two months people will have forgotten that air conditioning was needed during the summer, but it will come again,” Depoux said. “Is it a meaningful, sustainable opportunity? I’m not so sure.”One sourcing agent in China was already encouraging retailers to stock up for next year, in a marketing video published to WeChat, China’s popular social messaging app, titled, “Europe’s AC Gold Rush! Print Cash From The Heatwave.”“Secure your market position before the 2027 madness begins,” she said, twirling and pointing to a room full of portable fans and coolers.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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