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Mexico’s APIS Plans Forge Ahead with FltPlan.com

February 5, 2014
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Reliable and Secure APIS ProvidersIt has been announced that FltPlan.com, North America’s largest flight planning service provider, has been approved and selected to work with the Mexican government to implement their plans for the submission of Advanced Passenger Information.

Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration (INM) announced last month that, in order to improve its ability to process passengers more efficiently, it needed to employ APIS for the submission of the passenger data within 30 minutes of departure.

The Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) allows passenger information to be processed in the destination country before touchdown, which enhances border control, identifying high-risk passengers and expediting low-risk individuals.

The transmission of API is mandatory in the U.S. and is spreading across the globe in the fight against terrorism.

NBAA Update Advanced Passenger Information System with ARINC

January 13, 2014
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Leading Providers of Advanced Passenger Information SystemThe National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has responded to the new rules implemented by Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration for reporting of Advanced Passenger Information, saying their application to private flights arose, “primarily from a need for enhanced security measures in Mexico, as well as a desire for better accounting of taxes paid by arriving and departing passengers.”

The NBAA has also updated its own APIS (Advance Passenger Information System), developed in conjunction with ARINC, to comply with the legislation. Several third-party companies, amongst them Universal Weather & Aviation and FltPlan have stated that they are also able to help customers comply. The regulations require reporting to occur electronically within 30 minutes of departure if a flight will take more than an hour, whilst shorter flights must be reported after the doors have closed.

Mexico’s INM Call for Improved Times for APIS Delivery

January 13, 2014
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APIS Solutions for Mandatory Passenger Data TransferNew rules from Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration (INM) have prompted FltPlan to expand the capabilities of its current eAPIS system. FltPlan president Ken Wilson said the rules now require Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) manifests be submitted within 30 minutes of any aircraft closing its doors, and warned that breaching them could result in fines of up to $5,000.

Wilson reflected that FltPlan’s five-year plus experience in eAPIS systems and their early adoption of U.S. Customs and Border Protection certification for submission of passenger information made for a relatively easy transition when working with the Mexican government.

FltPlan, which recently exhibited at NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers conference in New Orleans, said its aim was to provide a low-cost, specialist solution. Current annual subscription rates to its eAPIS system are $249, and the Mexico service an additional £200, with $20 per manifest ($40 for a round trip from the U.S. to Mexico).

Concerns Raised with EU Block on Passenger Data

December 19, 2013
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Provision of Passenger Data to Enhance SecurityConcerns are growing for security chiefs about the increasing risk of potential terrorists being allowed to travel freely around Europe after the release and use of passenger data was blocked on human rights grounds earlier this year.

Cressida Dick, Assistant Commissioner of the Met expressed a warning that young men are able to fly to Turkey, hire a car and drive across the border into Syria. Her concern is that a ‘small number could fall under the spell of terrorists and return to Britain with deadly skills and motivation’.

Passenger data has been effectively used to identify potential high-risk passengers, alerting government agencies and border control before those passengers touch down at their destination. Supporters of the share of this data, referred to as Advanced Passenger Information (API) say that the information is critical to help track terrorists, people traffickers and serious criminals that regularly traverse international borders.

The system was developed after the terror attacks of 9/11 and is mandatory for passengers travelling to and within the U.S. and other parts of the world.

API is delivered electronically via the DCS of airlines. Providers maintain reliable, secure delivery and limited access to the information.

The Civil Liberties Committee of the EP claim that the passenger data storage system raises privacy concerns and critics are unhappy about the data being kept for five years, which could lead to passenger profiling.

As the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator points out that the numbers of fighters travelling to Syria is increasing, it has made a call to put airline passenger information availability back into practice, giving security officials the ability to track the movements of particular groups across Europe.

The head of MI5, Mr Andrew Parker, revealed that spies had observed ‘hundreds of people’ travel to Syria and added that some had indeed returned to the UK.

It is unclear how, when or even if, the use of passenger data may return to the forefront of aviation travel in Europe.

National Institute of Immigration in Mexico Selects ARINC’s e-Government Solution

December 11, 2013
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Passenger Data Solutions ProvidersIn a move to improve border security and enhance accountability, Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration has chosen ARINC’s e-Government solution. The solution will support Mexico’s immigration policies, enabling the government to improve the process of assessing individuals upon entry in addition to monitoring exit from the country.

The collection of Advanced Passenger Information (API) is a large part of the solution and complies with U.S. mandates in this area. Data gathered allows a detailed review of the passengers before they land in the destination country and can help to recognise high risk passengers, which in turn, allows greater efficiency when managing passenger processing, enhances border security and speeds up the entire process.

ARINC and the INM plan to have the system in place and operational by the end of this year and look forward to the vast improvements that it will allow. The e-Government program is a part of the ARINC electronic borders portfolio, specifically developed to meet modern security and government requirements.

The improvements will service more than 250 commercial airlines that currently operate in Mexico, delivering all the API messaging into the country once the implementations are completed.

“ARINC looks forward to a long and productive relationship with the government of Mexico and our close partners, INM,” said Vice President of ARINC Global Network and IT Solutions, Yun Chong, “Airports and other points of entry must meet border security requirements while still providing the highest levels of customer service. We are committed to helping INM meet its current and future border security and control objectives.”

Aviation Industry Messaging Specialists, ARINC, Receive Accolade for Work at RAK International

November 21, 2013
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Aviation industry messaging specialists ARINC EMEA received an accolade during the Aviation Business Awards in the category of Technology Implementation of the Year.

Tony Lynch, Regional Director and is team based in Dubai and Cairo received the endorsement for their work with the new airport processing systems at Ras Al Khaimah Airport (RAK International).

Specialist Solutions for Aviation Messaging & vMUSE Technology

The work involved the implementation of ARINC’s core suite of airport processing solutions for aviation industry messaging, including the latest vMUSE Common-use Passenger Processing solution (CUPPS), AirVue Flight Information Display and the Airport Operational Database, AirDB 7.

The award was presented to ARINC’s Tony Lynch and representing RAK International Airport, Imran Saeed, Senior IT and Engineering Manager by Ahmed Al Mamari, Chief Operations/Technical Officer from Royal Jet.

ARINC are proud of their award and hope to continue working with RAK International in further phases of their development.  ARINC are still making pioneering steps forward and are industry leaders in aviation industry messaging with products and solutions for end-to-end support from airport operations and passenger processing to business aviation services and flight support technology.

Plans to Expand Routes and Attract More Passengers to UAE & Ras Al Khaimah Airport

November 20, 2013
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The capture of passenger data is always important and new technology at RAK International airport will be utilized to its utmost as plans to expand routes to bring more passengers to the UAE and RAK International in particular are well underway.

The improvements to the airport itself and its infrastructure has increased capacity to 1.5 million passengers and all will need passenger processing and passenger data transfer.

“We are catering to the growth of RAK Airways and the expansion of routes to Ras Al Khaimah from Europe, the CIS (Commonwealth of the Independent States), Russia and Western Europe,” Mohammad Qazi, acting CEO of Ras Al Khaimah International, said.

RAK Airways has already expanded its destinations this year to 12, launching a service to Riyadh, Islamabad and Amman and has plans to add another 40 destinations with the expansion of its fleet.

Russian Ural Airlines operating from Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow is expected to bring in an additional 12,000 Russian visitors to the UAE, utilising RAK hotels and restaurants and helping to increase revenue and ultimately investment to bring the total hotel and resort space to 10,000 rooms by 2016.

Ras Al Khaimah International has been in talks with European airlines to encourage further business, two of which, Jet Air and Russia’s Ural Airlines have brought their operations to the airport.

The growing sector is encouraging emerging markets, such as Russia with plans for expansion and economic growth.  Aviation companies, such as ARINC, who have a dedicated Russian language site, are supportive of the emergence of Eastern European business.

ARINC & Hong Kong International Airport Renew 5-year Passenger Processing and Bag Drop Contract

October 29, 2013
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Industry Leading Passenger Processing Solutions from ARINCARINC Inc will continue to provide Hong Kong International (HKIA) with a full suite of passenger processing and bag drop solutions for the next five years, it has recently been announced.  In addition, support and maintenance services will also be provided.

HKIA, voted the world’s best airport, have been using ARINC technology and solutions since 2008.  Their MUSE, common-use systems and bag drop solutions, including BagLink baggage messaging and fallback tag services have been successful in enhancing operational efficiency.  In addition to the contract renewal, a new agreement has been signed to provide maintenance services and round-the-clock technicians with ARINC Managed Services division (AMS).

“With HKIA being one of the largest engineering and architectural developments in the world, the passenger system deployed by ARINC has been one of the most complex, comprising more than 1,300 common-use workstations located in Terminals 1 and 2, and Skypier of the Airport. The deployment also includes two off-site Airport Express train stations in Hong Kong, and multiple Upstream Check-in facilities at ferry terminals and bus stations in China and Macau,” said Glen Oliveiro, Director of Aviation and Ground Systems Solutions, ARINC.

“Since our founding 84 years ago, ARINC has been a trusted partner to the world’s leading airports and airlines. The fact that HKIA, one of the world’s largest airports and a major gateway into Asia, trusts ARINC to undertake this project is a testament to our commitment to providing the best technology and solutions to satisfy our customers’ needs,” said Michael DiGeorge, Managing Director of ARINC in Asia Pacific. “Having had a presence in Asia Pacific through our regional HQ in Singapore since 2003, this partnership with HKIA is also strategic as it underlines ARINC’s dedication to this rapidly-growing region.”

“Established on the principles of Safety, Operational Efficiency, Customer Convenience and Environment, it is of utmost importance that HKIA, being one of the world’s busiest passenger airports, uses a stable and reliable common platform. ARINC has consistently delivered reliable performance and quality, leading to improved efficiency in passenger processing and operation productivity over the past five years,” said Andy Bien, Chief Information Officer, Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK).

Dubai to Implement Advanced Passenger Information System for Visa Eligibility

October 24, 2013
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Advanced Passenger Information System in DubaiA federal project is expected to be implemented in Dubai to deal with Visa eligibility with the Advanced Passenger Information System initiative before passengers arrive in the UAE.

Col. Khalid Nasser Al Razouqi, Assistant Director-General for e-Services Sector at the Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai said, “It (the advance passenger information system) shall rather importantly help the residency and immigration authorities concerned decide accurately if a passenger is banned from entering the country or not.”

The advanced passenger information system (APIS) will enable the directorate to collect passenger data and check visa eligibility before the aircraft touches down in the country. “Of course, we shall not prohibit anyone from entering the country. Rather, we shall disallow already banned people as registered in the systems of the country,” he continued.

The system will also identify prohibited passengers and enable advance cancellation of travel from the source of the flight for those passengers.  The APIS initiative will help to streamline ground operations for the airports, who expect to see more than 98 million passengers by 2020 and is welcomed in the UAE, who announced earlier this year that over 351,000 banned expats were denied access into the UAE since 2003, many in possession of fake credentials and associated paperwork.

Controlled Access to Passenger Data Debate Continues

May 3, 2013
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It has been recently discussed that passenger data, if utilized and analyzed properly, could improve profitability for the airline industry.

Of course, this is a highly debatable subject in some sectors, due to concerns over security and data-sharing, not just passenger data, but all kind of data ranging throughout global industry.

However, passenger data is already accessed via a ‘cloud’ by government and security agencies and is carefully tagged to ensure the passenger data or any other information does not fall into ‘other’ hands.

The implementation of a ‘Data Lake’ could be the answer, enabling secure access to passenger data and related data that could be used by authorized analysts to weigh up the global aviation industry possibilities for improvement and increased profitability.

So, What is a ‘Data Lake’ & How Could it Affect Passenger Data?

A ‘Data Lake’ is basically a common storage pool with each piece of data being tagged with appropriate security information.  This will, through the use of metatags, control who is able to access the information, be it passenger data for an airline or fuel prices, for example.  The security information will stay with the data, tagging it in with certain criteria for analytical value.

The idea will place analytical information within fast and easy, but above all, secure and controlled reach of analysts, with those security tags firmly in place!