The US has ended its policy of making air passengers remove their shoes when going through airport security.
The US’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA) formally did away with the rule this week.
The nationwide security policy has been in place for around 20 years and came in after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 – although it wasn’t formally introduced until the second half of 2006.
“We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience,” US Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem said.
On average, more than 1 billion passengers travel through US airports – on more than 10 million flights – per year.
In 2013, TSA launched the PreCheck Trusted Traveler programme, whose members are not required to remove their shoes. Children under 12 and adults 75 years or older are exempt from removing their shoes.
Ms Noem does not think the new policy will degrade the PreCheck programme.
“I believe PreCheck will still be something that many travelers will want to utilise, because when they have TSA PreCheck, they won’t have to take off their belt or their coat or remove things out of their bag such as laptops or compliant liquids,” she said.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said other aspects of TSA’s security process would remain unchanged for most other travellers.
“For example, passengers (must) still clear identity verification, Secure Flight vetting, and other processes,” the department said.
“We are very confident that we can continue to provide hospitality to folks and for American travellers and for those visiting our country, while maintaining the same standard of security for passengers and for our homeland,” Ms Noem said.
She highlighted advancements in security technology and processes as reasons for the removal of the policy but noted that some individuals may be asked to remove their shoes “if we think there’s additional layers of screening that is necessary.”
-additional reporting Reuters
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