Faster airport security at Denver International Airport may be arriving sooner than expected.

Months after DIA debuted its new west security checkpoint to speed up screening, construction on the complementary checkpoint on the east side is ahead of schedule, according to airport officials’ presentation to Denver City Council members during their Business, Arts, Workforce, Climate & Aviation Services Committee on Wednesday.

The east security checkpoint — DIA’s second “state-of-the-art” Transportation Security Administration screening area — was originally expected to finish near the end of next year.

Now, the east security checkpoint could open as soon as late summer 2025.

The airport timeline moved up to the third quarter of next year with a contractor completion date set for September 2025, said Michael Sheehan, DIA’s senior vice president of special projects. And DIA is still pushing to get it done faster than that.

“We’re tracking to pull that back though a month or two because we want to get in front of our summer rush,” Sheehan explained.

The new security checkpoint is halfway done, the airport announced Wednesday. The construction project is not only ahead of schedule, the airport said, but also under budget.

Currently, Denver’s main airport has three open screening areas to accommodate a record number of passengers this year: Bridge, South, and West.

Between January and July, DIA broke passenger records every single month and the airport projects to beat 2023’s smashing year by nearly 4 million travelers at the end of this year.

DIA is heavily investing in infrastructure projects, such as its security efficiency, to accommodate at least 100 million passengers by 2027.

The airport shut down an old security checkpoint on its north side after the west side opened in February to begin work on the new east checkpoint. DIA CEO Phil Washington previously said the opening of the West checkpoint would make up for the closure and keep wait times the same at least, if not faster.

The west checkpoint was designed to make TSA screening 33% more efficient with 17 new security lanes using upgraded technology.

The new security lanes allows more passengers to put their items in bins on the carousel at the same time and automatically diverts carry-on bags flagged for prohibited items without stopping the line.

The bins are also larger to fit more items and can automatically go back to the front of the line after being used.

The lanes are equipped with computed tomography (CT) X-ray scanners that are capable of creating 3D images so passengers won’t have to remove travel-size liquids and electronics from their carry-on bags.

The east checkpoint will be a “mirror-image” of the west side, Sheehan said.

Just like the west side, the second checkpoint will have 17 security screening lanes. On Wednesday, the City Council’s business committee approved an airport contract to donate the east side lanes’ screening equipment worth $31 million to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

The airport purchased the modern security equipment to have more efficient technology at the airport rather than using TSA’s older baseline security systems. The airport has to donate it because the federal agency is required to own the equipment to use it.

Once the east side is completed, the airport plans to shut down the south and bridge security areas as part of the Great Hall project to open up the main terminal area for more concessions and meet-and-greet space.

“Six months into the West Checkpoint being open, we can say with confidence that we have improved the passenger experience and made our security operations safer and more efficient,” Washington said in a news release. “The completion of the East Security Checkpoint will further enhance our security screening process and improve the passenger journey.”