Five airlines agree to submit passenger lists

By Terry Frieden
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Five international air carriers that had balked at providing U.S. officials with advance information on passenger lists have now decided to do so, the U.S. Customs Service said Tuesday.

Egypt Air, Kuwait Airways, Canada-based Air Transat, Greece-based Olympic Airways, and Germany-based LTU have all agreed to participate in the "voluntary" program. The move comes amid threats from Capitol Hill to pass legislation requiring the passenger information.

Under the memoranda of understanding, biographical information on individual passengers will be provided before their arrival in the United States so authorities can search for known or suspected terrorists.

The information is collected as the flights depart, and is transmitted to the Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service while the flight is in the air.

In addition to travelers' names, information is also provided about nationalities, birth dates, passports and visas. In some cases, travel itineraries are also provided.

One airline notably absent from the list is the Saudi Arabian carrier Saudia Airlines, a federal law enforcement official tells CNN.

At least seven other airlines have either refused, or say they are unable to participate in the program, according to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, who is leading the fight for a law to make the information mandatory.

Dorgan's office said that among the carriers yet to sign up are the U.S. carrier America West, Royal Jordanian Air, Pakistani International, Aer Lingus, Bahamas Air, Canada 3000, and Champion Air.

Among the five carriers who have agreed to provide the information, only one -- LTU, based in Dusseldorf -- is now capable of transmitting passenger information to the Customs Service. The others have promised to develop the systems needed to convey the information.

The agency's Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) has become a much-discussed topic in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11.

"We are pleased that these airlines have agreed to provide APIS data," said U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner in a statement issued Tuesday.

"Compliance with APIS, however, should be mandatory for all airlines so that U.S. Customs can screen all passengers on international flights for known or suspected terrorists before they arrive in the U.S.," he wrote.

Dorgan's provision for mandatory notification is in the Senate version of a bill currently in a House-Senate conference committee. Proponents insist a voluntary program doesn't work.

"If they sign up, they can un-sign up," said a spokesman for Dorgan.

Last year, advance information was sent to the U.S. for about 85 percent of the 57 million passengers arriving in the country.

The absence of the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian airlines was of particular concern to some officials after the September 11 attacks.