The Transportation Security Administration will sunset the Known Crew Member screening program for aircrew in the United States this year. It will be succeeded by a program that has already been piloted at select airports, called the Crew Member Access Point program.

Instead of KCM being administered by airline associations with TSA at the checkpoints, the Department of Homeland Security will take over the entire process under CMAP. DHS is charging $19 per staff member for each airline participating in the program, with the total bill for legacy carriers adding up to millions per year.

Modernizing Aircrew Screening In America

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When CMAP takes effect in 2027, the fees will be highest for American Airlines, with its very large workforce compared to other carriers. American employees in CMAP will include roughly 30,000 flight attendants and 17,500 pilots, according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Those numbers mean that its annual bill for CMAP will be around $2.64 million. Despite the high price, the expedited screening helps make operations more predictable and directly contributes to the bottom line.

KCM and CMAP are very similar in everyday function, with the primary difference being the transfer of leadership to DHS. KCM was originally established in 2011 as a joint initiative between the Airline Pilots Association and Airlines for America. These two groups provided the database of aircrew for the TSA, who then perform screenings at airports around the country.

DHS will take the master crew list from international airlines and master personnel from domestic carriers as compiled by A4A. After CMAP is rolled out, the TSA will maintain its own rosters of approved crew members who have been pre-screened in internal databases. The federal records will include biometric data verification as part of the new screening process.

Changing Of The Guard: DHS Takes Over

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American Airlines may be facing the highest fees, but it is also one of the few carriers that considered pulling out of KCM in the past. In 2022, a high number of AA crew members were found to have weapons or narcotics during KCM screenings. This led to an increased rate of randomized screening for the airline’s staff. Fearing that flight delays would result from aircrew being stuck in the TSA PreCheck or normal TSA lanes, AA threatened to leave the program altogether.

PYOK compiled these estimates of what the major US carrier will pay to participate in CMAP:

The failure of KCM to prevent some high-profile security violations is also one of the reasons that DHS is taking the reins for registered traveler screening. The agency also emphasized that managing CMAP directly would help the agency focus its resources on the other screening programs for higher-risk traveler groups. According to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) both began CMAP screening programs on June 22. Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) was slated to start on June 29.

The 2024 Smuggling And Hacking Incidents

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A high-profile case in 2024 unfolded at JFK International Airport (JFK) in New York City. Four flight attendants were arrested and charged with abusing the KCM privileges their status gave them to smuggle over $8 million in bulk drug money as part of a fentanyl smuggling operation. Authorities suspected that the FAs were involved directly with drug cartels in the Dominican Republic, where they were traveling to while working for carriers including Delta Air Lines.

Leading up to this major criminal case, there was also a critical cybersecurity flaw discovered in the FlyCASS third-party web database used by smaller airlines in the KCM program. Researchers discovered that it was possible to use a SQL injection attack to bypass administrative controls and add a name manually to the authorized travelers list. DHS and TSA responded that the issue would be resolved and shut down FlyCASS after learning of the vulnerability from the researchers, according to Uprise RI.

Ultimately, the airlines are counting on CMAP to be reliable so that operations are not impacted by bottlenecks at the screening points. KCM did not have X-ray and metal detector screening, which will make CMAP potentially slower at certain times, but does ensure a lower risk of diverting aircrew being rechecked in the general security lines because equipment is available at the aircrew screening point. Only time will tell if the new system is better for both security and efficiency, and growing pains are certain to come up as the transition gets underway next year.