IATA Annual Review 2012

SECURITY
Achieving convenient and
effective security.
Governments and the industry
must continue to work
together to replace inflexible
security measures with
harmonized and responsive
security systems based on
data and risk management.
39
countries
Currently impose API with
another 32 countries
in the pipeline.
7
countries
Require access to PNR
data with another 29
countries to follow suit
(mostly in the EU).
The safety and security of passengers
is always the number
one concern for airlines. Since
2001, flying has become much
more secure, but this has come
at the cost of greater passenger
inconvenience. With around
700 million extra passengers
expected to fly by 2015,
fundamental improvements to
the security system are needed
to further strengthen security
and deliver a better customer
experience.
Through the concerted efforts
of IATA and its industry partners,
many regulatory authorities
are including the industry
in their security deliberations
at a much earlier stage than
was previously the case.
Since 9/11, aviation has been
subjected to a large number of
security regulations, many implemented
unilaterally. Aviation
is a global business, however,
and aviation-related regulations
must, as much as possible, be
agreed upon and implemented
globally. The security regulatory
framework should be designed
to recognize the unique challenges
facing aviation and
should follow a risk-based,
data-driven approach.
For some years, governments
worldwide have been
making use of Advanced
Passenger Information (API)
and Passenger Name Record
(PNR) programs to aid border
security. Information of this
kind is a crucial tool in the
fight against terrorism and
illegal activity. Previously, the
standards for the transmission
of such data were not always
harmonized. In 2011, several
“IATA is promoting a checkpoint of
the future, which I strongly endorse.”
John S. Pistole, US TSA Administrator, interview on C-SPAN 10 August 2011.
22
Through a closer relationship
with authorities, the industry
is helping to shape and harmonize
the security regulatory
framework.
data-alignment initiatives were
successfully concluded to
round out the tools available to
countries. ICAO has updated
its passenger data blueprint
based on these agreements,
and IATA has led efforts to
create new PNR message
standards and to standardize
the use of Extensible Markup
Language (XML).
Other IATA efforts resulted in
India committing to a single
window for the receipt of passenger
data and adopting the
United Nations EDI directories
for administration, commerce,
and transport (UN/EDIFACT)
message standard. Globally,
paper is being removed from
security processes by regulators.
During 2011, IATA worked
with its industry partners to
convince the US Customs
Border Patrol to eliminate
two widely used paper-based
forms: I-92 and I-94W.