Trans States Airlines is the sixth largest independent (privately held) regional airline in the United States. Founded in 1985 primarily to serve Trans World Airlines from its Saint Louis hub, the company has positioned itself to be a quality regional feeder airline for American Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways. The airline currently serves more than 3.4 million passengers with over 300 flights to 62 cities, and employs approximately 2,500 people.

“Before Sept. 11, basically everyone’s identification cards were laminated the old way,” reports Kristy Basham, a recruiter for Trans States Airlines who is responsible for the company’s identification card program. “It was the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that required identification cards that can’t be duplicated.”

Security officials at Trans States Airlines researched the card printer market a few years ago to find a suitable printer.

“There were other card printing companies out there, but they were going to charge a fortune,” Basham says. “We are a very cost conscious airline. We wanted something that was quality, but didn’t cost so much.

“We found Sandia Imaging Company in Texas and discovered the Zebra printers. The price was good and the quality was very good for what we needed,” Basham adds.

Trans States Airlines ended up purchasing a Zebra P310 printer and recently upgraded to a Zebra P330i printer. The Zebra P330i is a single-sided, full-color plastic card printer/encoder that prints sharp, readable bar codes, ID photos, graphics and text, edge-to-edge, in just seconds. The P330i features Zebra’s revolutionary i-Series functionality, which simplifies card printing via automatic driver configuration, intelligent color optimization and a special RFID system for ribbon image counter and ribbon low notification.

“I like the P330i,” Basham emphasizes. “It actually communicates with you. It lets you know what’s going on. This printer will tell you where it’s at and what it’s doing, even on the computer screen. It tells you if the ribbon is low, and when to clean it. I used to forget to clean the printer.”

“I think the P330i prints even clearer and nicer than the P310,” she adds.

The printer is used by Trans States Airlines nearly every day to create identification cards for new employees and to replace lost or damaged cards. The company’s identification cards feature the airline’s logo, along with a photo of the employee in full color on the front. On the back, plain black text outlines the terms and conditions of the identification card.

“We are responsible for having control over all of the IDs—where they are, and if they get lost, especially for crew members and out on the ramp outside the plane,” Basham notes. “Printing the cards on site gives us control over every step of the process.”

Basham and her boss are both trained to use the P330i printer and have found it simple to use.