There are a lot of airlines out there. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), leading groups in aviation and the airline industry, have assigned airline codes to over 5,000 airlines that offer local, regional, and international airlines. However, the actual number of current commercial airlines is just over 1,100. Europe has the highest number of commercial airlines, which is followed by, in order, Asia, North America, Africa, South America, the Middle East, the Caribbean & Central America, and Australasia and the Pacific (thank-you, Finances Online!)
Of those 1,100-odd airlines, nearly 90 of them have become part of TSA PreCheck, the U.S. government’s expedited security initiative, over the years.
When PreCheck was piloted in 2011, it initially only included one airline: American Airlines. The pilot program only serviced Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Los Angeles in those early days. Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines (along with the now-defunct U.S. Air and Virgin America – this is the biggest reason why we miss Virgin America) soon followed and by the following year, the pilot had expanded to 28 more U.S. airports. By the time the program had officially launched in 2013, the number of participating airports had increased by the dozens, and more and more airlines, first U.S. based, and then international ones (Air Canada was the first non-US airline to join TSA PreCheck, in spring, 2014), opted in.
Since then, TSA PreCheck has grown to encompass 87 airlines, and is available at over 200 airports in the U.S., and one international location. They include major and not-so-major airlines from around the world (although a handful of notable airlines that service the United States are still not in the program. They include Air Transat, Aer Lingus, China Southern, China Eastern, EgyptAir, Gol, Norse Atlantic Airways and PLAY Airlines, among others).
Of course, whenever a new airport or airline joins TSA PreCheck, it’s a big deal – if you have TSA PreCheck status, every new option to use it means you won’t have to stand on the “regular” queue at the TSA security checkpoint.
Unfortunately, sometimes the opposite happens and an airline is removed from TSA PreCheck’s list of participating carriers. This usually happens when an airline has gone out of business. Such is the recent case of Air Choice One.
Founded as Multi-Aero in 1979, Air Choice One commenced operations in 2010. A small airline, it offered flights to Jonesboro, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. However, in its heyday, it also serviced 11 cities in 8 states, including some of the larger airports in Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis.
Air Choice One was part of the TSA PreCheck program. However, the airline was bought out by Southern Airways Corporation in March 2022. All remaining Air Choice One flights were terminated by early July of that year.
However it took the TSA until this month to update their page that includes which airlines participate in TSA PreCheck and remove Air Choice One from their list.
So TSA PreCheck is now only offered by 86, not 87 airlines.
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