What was different, he said, was that Mr. Lawless sought and was allowed greater autonomy, while previous security directors reported to aviation directors with airport training.

He was largely exempt from answering to the airport's aviation director.

Eagle's founder Harold Bamberg was appointed as aviation director of the company.

That month, air traffic become so thick -7,995 takeoffs and landings - that the local civil aviation director announced that Boa Vista airport was Brazil's busiest.

The aviation director is briefed on a regular basis by Airport Advisory Committee members.

But Thomas J. Kinton, Jr., the port authority's aviation director, said that he would like to see the system used on everyone entering the airport.

"I think this latest development will expedite some decisions," Delbert Karmeier, Kansas City's aviation director, said yesterday of the Braniff move.

For William Fife, aviation director at DMJM & Harris, an engineering and design company, it was a defining moment.

"We are growing, growing, growing," said John Ferguson, Yampa's aviation director.

"Today, Vail Pass has been closed because of avalanches," Scott Smith, aviation director for the Aspen airport, said on a recent snowy afternoon.