CDC Airport Hotspot Throughput (PageRank)

TSA launched the “Stay Healthy. Stay Secure.” campaign, which details proactive and protective measures have been implemented at security checkpoints to make the screening process safer for passengers and our workforce by reducing the potential of exposure to the coronavirus. The campaign includes guidance and resources to help passengers prepare for the security screening process in the COVID environment. A big part of that campaign was the development of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Airport Hotspot Throughput. This capability determines the domestic airports that have the highest rank of connecting flights during the holiday travel season to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This capability is a DHS-developed artificial intelligence model written in Spark/Scala that takes historical non-PII travel data and computes the highest-ranking airports based on the PageRank algorithm. TSA does not make decisions about flight cancellations or airport closures. These decisions are made locally, on a case-by-case basis, by individual airlines, airports, and public health officials. TSA will continuously evaluate and adapt procedures and policies to keep the public and our workforce safe as we learn more about this devastating disease and how it spreads.

Date

Oct 2022

Organization Type

Government