Heavy U.S. mail returning to passenger airlines WASHINGTON (AP) =97 The government wants passenger airlines flying out of=20 most major airports to carry U.S. mail packages weighing one-pound and=20 heavier in their cargo holds by the end of the year. U.S. Postal Service=20 mail heavier than 16 ounces was banned on passenger airlines after the=20 Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings because of fears they would contain explosives. Since November, airliners have been able to carry heavier packages out of=20 some airports after being screened by bomb-sniffing dogs under a pilot=20 program run by the Transportation Security Administration .Spokesman Robert= =20 Johnson said the agency wanted to expand the program to most major airports= =20 by the end of the year. "We recognize it's a substantial revenue stream for= =20 airlines, and given that we're always trying to get to normal after 9/11,=20 this is another way to achieve that goal," he said Thursday. Dogs were=20 chosen to screen the mail because of their mobility, ability to search=20 large volumes of items quickly, and accuracy in detecting explosives, said= =20 David Kontny, director of the TSA canine program. The program is being=20 piloted in the following 12 airports: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu,=20 Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, Portland, San Francisco, San Juan and= =20 Seattle. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************