Laid off from Covenant Aviation Security.

What Covenant Aviation Security layoffs have meant for employees

TSA's own officers screen travelers at most airports, but San Francisco is one of 20 in its Screening Partnership Program, where private contractors do the same duties under TSA's management, SFGate reported. Covenant was the incumbent at SFO when TSA opened the work to bids, GAO's decision on its protest says, and TSA told GAO that SFO is by far the largest airport in the program, at about $830 million. On its website Covenant calls itself the largest private aviation security contractor serving TSA, according to KRON4. So the people on Covenant's notice do TSA's screening work as private employees, and what changed hands is the contract they work under.

The contract change came at the end of a long procurement. TSA asked for proposals in December 2024 and issued the task order to VMD in September 2025. Covenant's protest, filed that November according to GAO's docket, was denied in February 2026, and VMD announced the award in July 2026, AJOT reported. If you're on Covenant's notice, the decisions that shape your next months sit with VMD, the union and SFO's retention rules.

VMD, a Virginia firm that's part of Xcelerate Solutions, told SFGate it's the largest contractor in TSA's program, with screening at Kansas City, Atlantic City, Greater Rochester and eight Montana airports, and TSA rated its past performance with the same high confidence it gave Covenant's. By early October VMD had already fitted SFO screeners for uniforms carrying its name in place of Covenant's.

Covenant's notice calls the layoffs permanent, which holds for Covenant, since TSA gave its SFO work to VMD. VMD's spokesperson said the company tries "to keep those employees that are good workers." Many Covenant employees at SFO are represented by SEIU-United Service Workers West, and if you're one of them, the union was negotiating your continued employment and contract terms with VMD, Aviation Pros reported. In an unverified account to SFGate, an officer with more than 13 years at Covenant said workers wanted a contract with VMD in place from their first day, since VMD hadn't worked with a union before, and that Covenant was "pretty much not helping" with the switch while VMD worked with them.

Covenant's two Houston airport filings are the only other Covenant entries in our WARN tracker. No source we read gives a reason for those filings, so they can't be taken as another lost contract. If you worked for Covenant in Houston, the trial-period protection described for San Francisco comes from SFO's own retention policy.

The competition itself set terms on pay. TSA required every bidder to certify labor rates that met its own minimums and the Service Contract Labor Standards, including at least the wages and fringe benefits in the existing union contract, and VMD certified that it would comply with that contract's terms, the decision says. TSA's minimum hourly rate for a screening officer with a year on the contract was $42.21, and $54.56 for a lead officer, figures the decision checked against VMD's combined pay and benefit rates, and VMD's proposal priced the premium hours the union contract describes, such as overtime, shift differential and Sunday differential. The solicitation also let TSA test whether a bidder's pay would be enough to keep the checkpoints staffed, and both Covenant's and VMD's prices passed. If VMD gives you pay terms in writing, you can set the rate and benefits it states against the TSA minimums and the union-contract protections the decision describes.

A sourced history of Covenant Aviation Security layoffs

• September 2026 SFO notice after TSA's award to VMD

  Covenant's California notice, dated September 28 in our WARN tracker, listed 1,279 SFO jobs ending November 30, 2026. Aviation Pros said VMD Corp was scheduled to take over December 1, and VMD's spokesperson told SFGate the notice didn't translate to a massive wave of layoffs.

• November 2023 Texas filings for Houston's Bush and Hobby

  Two Texas filings from November 27, 2023, logged in our WARN tracker, list 64 Covenant jobs at George Bush Airport and 39 at Hobby Airport in Houston, with December 6 as the layoff date.

What to do if you're laid off from Covenant Aviation Security

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Covenant Aviation Security's biggest hubs: California, Texas. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Covenant Aviation Security's hub states run: California, Texas, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.