Each airport collects 4.50 usd, in the U.S., for each traveler for each airport he/she travels through. I worked at a small airport for a time and calculated the rough total based on ours and AA's boarding numbers. I forget the total exactly but it was something like 11 million. These fees are PFC's. (Passenger Facility Charges). I worked there for 8 years and there was no where near 11 million dollars annually going back into that terminal. In addition to that, the airport received federal grants of several million each year to upgrade the field. Very easy to funnel a small portion of that to put in cameras and microphones. This airport had only 2 ticket counters and 3 gates. How much cost could there be??
Obviously at a large airport, there is a lot more cost. But thus, alot more travelers which probably makes the ratio of cost vs collection about the same. I don't think it would be that expensive. The money is already there, most likely.
Monitoring it is the question. Really doesn't matter who, as long as records are kept. Then the appropriate parties can view them.
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