Long security lines at Pensacola International Airport will return after Blues week

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the date of the TSA security project resuming tentatively at the beginning of August.

While a security upgrade project at the Pensacola International Airport has been paused during the busy Fourth of July holiday week, the project will resume tentatively at the beginning of August − and with it − long security wait times that are more common at larger airports.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves announced last week that the Transportation Security Administration had agreed to delay its security upgrade project during the holiday.

"No, it's not the city's first choice to do equipment upgrades during the middle of the summer in our busiest tourist season," Reeves said. "That being said, we have been in constant conversation with the TSA about being able to delay some of that."

The TSA is replacing its current security screening equipment with upgraded CT scanners that will improve the accuracy of scans and reduce the number of bags that have to be searched by hand, according to the city.

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The TSA selected the time of the upgrade based on the availability of the equipment and contractor to do the work — which coincides with the busiest time of the year for travel at the airport.

The Pensacola International Airport has seen increasing growth in the number of passengers each year for the last several years, adding to wait times in security.

Reeves warned of increased wait times at his press conference last month and said people should take seriously the advice of getting to the airport at least two hours before their flight.

"I'm one of those who get there an hour and five minutes before, like many of our citizens are out there," Reeves said. "So I know when they hear 'get there two hours early,' people might blow that off. I'm telling you, as the summer increases and there's more passengers, I would tell our citizens to take that seriously."

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While the security lines have seen a reprieve over the Fourth of July holiday, long waits could resume next week as the work starts back up.

The work, which is only the project's first phase, is expected to be completed by Labor Day.

Reeves said airport officials are in communication with the TSA to try to schedule work around less busy times.

"Our goal here — especially in these next couple of weeks that are very busy — is to make sure that we have it running as smoothly as possible and delay some of that into early mid-late August, where we start to see historically some of our travel die down when kids go back to school," Reeves said. "So we appreciate TSA working with us on that."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola International Airport passengers: expect long TSA wait times