Airlines rush to meet demand for passenger lists

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- At least eight of 58 airlines flying international routes into the United States say they will meet the U.S. Customs Service demand to start submitting their passenger lists electronically by Thursday.

Russia's Aeroflot, Malev Hungarian, Pakistan International and Royal Jordanian have all agreed, as have U.S. carriers Air Comet, Falcon Air Express, Gulfstream International Airlines and Planet Airways.

Numerous other airlines -- including Saudi Arabian Airlines -- have contacted the Customs Service to say they want to participate but may not make the Thursday deadline announced by Customs Service Commissioner Robert Bonner in a letter to the 58 airlines last week.

Despite those intentions, officials say arriving international passengers whose airlines do not provide a roster will, starting Thursday, have all checked and carry-on luggage hand-searched or electronically x-rayed or screened.

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"Those for 100 percent search will go through one set of lanes," explained Customs spokesman Dennis Murphy. "People who aren't going to be searched will go through another set much more quickly."

Approximately five airlines on the list whose only international flights are out of Canada -- where passengers are already pre-screened by customs agents -- won't be affected.

Most of the airlines cited by the Customs Service are small international carriers or small, regional U.S. carriers and charters that operate relatively few international flights into the United States.

America West Airlines, the largest U.S. airline on the list, says the bags of passengers on its international flights are already screened on arrival in Phoenix, Arizona, so it expects no significant delays. Spokesman Jim Stabourin said the carrier's only international flights are out of Mexico and Canada, and that the airline would be compliant by as early as mid-December.

Most international carriers already comply

Officials expect the greatest impact to be seen at major international airports like New York's JFK International Airport, Miami International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

Currently 85 percent of international carriers already comply voluntarily with U.S. requests for passenger manifests. The information is fed into a U.S. Customs computer system in existence since 1988 called the Advance Passenger Information System.

Last year, officials said, the system reviewed 57 million travelers on about 387,000 flights that entered the United States.

A new aviation security bill signed into law last week gave airlines with international flights 60 days to begin providing the passenger manifests.

But Bonner sped up implementation of the measure because of ongoing security concerns.