REAL ID checks are set to disrupt travel at airports across U.S.

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U.S. travellers are facing additional complications from a new federal identification rule that threatens to snarl operations at the nation’s airports just ahead of the summer rush.

Officials on Wednesday began enforcing a long-planned requirement that domestic passengers use what’s known as a REAL ID card, ending the longstanding practice of accepting standard driver’s licences for air travel. Passports and certain other forms of identification, such as “enhanced” driver’s licences, will also be accepted.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday warned of airport security delays as the rule goes into effect. Anyone without a compliant identification “may be diverted to a different line, have an extra step, but people will be able to fly,” she told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

The new requirement adds to the challenges already confronting travellers, from weather-related flight disruptions to airport construction work to air traffic control problems.

New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, a major hub for U.S. travel, has significantly reduced operations following an incident last week in which controllers temporarily lost radar and radio contact with planes in the air.

The REAL ID rule, which also applies to people attempting to enter certain federal buildings, was approved in 2005 as part of a package of security recommendations laid out by the 9/11 Commission. Successive administrations have delayed implementation as states pushed back, at times arguing that the requirement for secure ID cards was a costly mandate that the federal government failed to fund.

Noem said Tuesday that as many as 81% of airline travellers are thought to already have the proper ID. Transportation Security Administration officers at airport security checkpoints will also honour passports and tribal identification cards, she said.