Centerlines - January 2008 - (Page 11)

R E G U L AT O R Y F R O N T passengers from boarding aircraft and facilitate customer service and travel by substantially decreasing, if not entirely eliminating, the number of flights that are diverted or turned back,” wrote Diane Peterson, ACI-NA’s senior advisor, international affairs, in 2006 when the APIS review was still in the comment stage. As early as 2005 ACI-NA highlighted to CBP the importance of writing a pre-departure APIS order that would minimize the impact on passenger and baggage flow. For example, one APIS option CBP floated would have required carriers to submit passenger data 60 minutes prior to the flight. If this option were adopted, ACI-NA said congestion would increase in airport lobbies and gate areas as the check-in and connecting times would be increased. Closing out might disrupt airline, and collaterally, airport operations. In fact, CBP itself acknowledges that there will be problems. The final rule states that passengers with boarding passes for connecting flights issued at origin, but whose data has not been vetted by CBP will be prohibited from boarding their connecting flights until CBP has vetted them. CBP calculates that between 0.5 and 1 percent of the passengers will miss their connecting flights. IATA, however, is “predicting numbers in the high single digits.” CBP predicts that passengers who miss flights will be delayed by an average four hours. “It is very difficult for passengers who miss flights to be rerouted. Planes are full all the time,” said Ana Sotorrio, Miami International Airport’s associate aviation director around waiting for boarding passes to be printed.” “Quick Query doesn’t sound like much, but . . . even if you add just a few seconds, you create congestion, and we do not have a lot of space in the terminal,” Sotorrio said. “You [would] also have a lot of massing of people and a growing security concern. This would be perfect for terrorists.” Secure Flight Under the Secure Flight proposal, TSA would fully assume the domestic watch list matching function from aircraft operators. Following this initial transfer of responsibility, TSA would assume from CBP the responsibility for comparing passenger information to government watch lists. Airports that want to authorize non-traveling individuals access to the boarding areas would also have to adopt the Secure Flight procedures. For Secure Flight, nontraveling individuals are only those persons escorting a minor or a passenger with disabilities. “The implementation of Secure Flight will be a complex and challenging process,” said ACI-NA Senior Vice President for Security and Facilitation Charles Chambers. TSA estimates that on a standard travel day, over 2.4 million passengers would be subject to vetting under the Secure Flight program. Because TSA wants to get most passenger data within 72 hours of a flight, that means 7.2 million passengers would be in this system over any three day period. Further, this estimate does not include those making reservations under the 72 hour period, which TSA estimates is from seven to 10 percent of total reservations. Vetting so many people in an efficient manner without disrupting air travel will be a “tall order.” Secure Flight will be costly. The TSA estimates it will costs airlines, travel agents, passengers and the www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES SERIOUS concerns remain about just how severely APIS might disrupt airline, and collaterally, airport operations. flights that early could also hurt non-hub and short-haul international flights and result in airlines having to draw up less efficient schedules, with far-reaching impacts on ground operations. CBP ultimately accepted several recommendations, including the ACI-NA proposal to allow carriers to mix and match at their discretion two interactive options for submitting manifest queries: batch queries sent as little as 30 minutes before departure, and APIS quick query (real-time) up to the last few seconds before aircraft doors are secured. “What we brought to the table was how these things could have real-world, physical impacts on airport facilities, in addition to airline services,” said Peterson. Nevertheless, serious concerns remain about just how severely APIS for governmental affairs. She pointed out that for flights that reduce their departures to once a day in the winter, a missed flight means, “You are staying overnight. And we have 100 airlines.” ACI-NA noted in its comments to CBP in October 2006, “We are very skeptical that an implementation deadline of 180 days following the issuance of a final rule will be enough for airlines to make all the necessary adjustments to their systems and procedures in order to meet the proposed requirements.” IATA predicts that it will take two years for all the airlines to convert. In the meantime, most carriers initially will not have the capability to implement quick query APIS. Until the quick query can be implemented, IATA forecasts that “airports will have hundreds of people standing ©istockphoto.com/Xaviarnau 11 http://istockphoto.com/Xaviarnau http://www.aci-na.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Centerlines - January 2008

Contents President’s Message Canadian Airports Associates’ Corner Policy Center Regulatory Front On the Hill and On the Stump One on One: Dave Barger Revenue: The Concessions Awards Environment: O’Hare Expansion Passenger Focus: Houston Friendly Safety and Security: After Comair, What Next? Air Service Recruiting: Charleston’s Acquisition of AirTran On Management: Performance Benchmarking at DFW Now Underway Grand Opening Conference Previews and Reviews New Members Index of Advertisers/Advertiser.com Box Scores

Centerlines - January 2008

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