ATA Testimony Submitted to the House Homeland Security Transportation Security Subcommittee on the Registered Traveler Program

Commercial aviation helps drive more than 10M American jobs and 5 cents of every dollar of U.S. GDP
Commercial aviation drives more than $1 trillion per year in economic activity
In 2012, U.S. airlines moved more than 48,000 tons of cargo per day
In 2012, the value of a kilogram of U.S. merchandise exported by air averaged 121 times the value exported by sea
For every 100 airline jobs, some 360 are supported outside of the airline industry
Federal taxes constitute $61 – or 20% – of the price of a typical $300 domestic round-trip ticket
In 2011, U.S. airlines carried 16 percent more passengers and cargo using 10 percent less fuel than in 2000
Domestically, airlines drive 5% of economic activity but account for 2% of man-made GHG emissions
From 2000-2011, airlines reduced GHG emissions by 11% while transporting 16% more passengers and cargo
From 1975-2011, U.S. airlines and their partners reduced significant noise exposure by 99%
Commercial air travel is the safest form of intercity transportation in the United States
In the most recent decade, scheduled air service on U.S. airlines was seven times safer than in the 1970s
From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines improved the on-time arrival rate from 72.6% to 81.9%
From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines reduced the flight cancellation rate sharply from 3.30% to 1.29%
Airfares are a bargain: From 2000-2012, U.S. CPI rose 33% while average domestic fare rose just 14%
Adjusted for inflation, the average round-trip domestic airfare fell 15% from 2000
2007 domestic flight delays cost the United States approximately $31 billion
In 2012, the value of U.S. merchandise exported by air reached an all-time high of $427B
In 2012, U.S. exports of air-travel services reached an all-time high of $39.5B, driving a $5.1B trade surplus
In 2012, U.S. passenger and cargo airlines spent more than $50B on fuel, averaging 36% of operating expenses
In 2012, U.S. airlines posted the lowest annual rate of mishandled baggage ever recorded
FAA projects U.S. air travel demand to top 1 billion passengers in 2027
In 2012, US airlines flew 83.4 million passengers in scheduled international service - a record high
In 2012, the total value of merchandise exported from or imported to the United States by air exceeded $927 billion
In 2012, 7.15 teragrams of merchandise was exported from or imported to the United States by air

	ATA Testimony Submitted to the House Homeland Security Transportation Security Subcommittee on the Registered Traveler Program
	PubZone1 July 31, 2007 Today’s hearing is important and timely. It quite properly draws renewed attention to the Registered Traveler Program, which we continue to believe is the wrong way to attempt to improve the screening of air travelers at our nation’s airports. We firmly believe that the focus of attention in this area should be directed at improving the passenger screening experience for all customers. In shunning that indisputable public interest goal, the Registered Traveler Program highlights the need to maintain fidelity to first principles in civil aviation security. The airlines were early advocates of the registered traveler concept. Five years ago, we urged the government to develop a system that would speed the screening of those passengers who did not present security concerns and thereby facilitate the processing of the vast majority of travelers. Our advocacy was prompted by TSA’s heavy reliance on secondary screening of passengers at gates in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. This practice was a source of considerable customer inconvenience. Fortunately, that turned out to be a short-lived exigency because of TSA’s significant improvements in passenger screening. As a result, we dropped our support of the registered traveler concept years ago. Today’s Registered Traveler Program, in contrast, promises no such benefits to the vast majority of air travelers. That is the crucial difference between then and now; it is the difference between what we conceived of as a mainstream program and a program that has emerged to benefit the select few. Today, it is not the secondary screening procedures that delay passenger processing. Instead, resource limitations are the typical source of those delays; more specifically, checkpoint staffing levels and checkpoint physical constraints. Introducing the Registered Traveler Program at an airport will not improve the availability of those resources. We are unaware of any evidence that suggests, much less provides any confidence, that the Registered Traveler Program will produce the widely available benefits to passengers that we had sought in 2002; or that it will generate a pronounced improvement in overall security; or that systemwide passenger wait times will diminish. We, however, do know that what was originally conceived as a straightforward governmental program to benefit the vast majority of passengers has been transformed into a commercial enterprise for the few. Indeed, with TSA’s anticipated unveiling of the Secure Flight Program, which will more closely vet all passengers, the justification for the Registered Traveler Program is even more indefinable. Moreover, given the government-predicted increase in airline passenger traffic in the near future, devoting scarce resources to such an inherently defective program is baffling. The Federal Aviation Administration forecasts that in 2015 one billion passengers will be enplaned on U.S. airlines. Approximately 744 million passengers were enplaned in 2006. In other words, one-third more passengers will be screened in little more than seven years. Responding to that increase should be the priority. TSA’s ability to screen efficiently 33 percent more passengers by the middle of the next decade will be one of the primary determinants of the future of air transportation in America, the wellbeing of air travelers, and the economic security of those who work in the airline industry. Benefiting as many passengers as possible should be the guiding principle, the first principle in making any public policy decision in this area. The Registered Traveler Program in no way meets that standard. Of course, it is not intended to. Registered Traveler neither offers the benefits to passengers nor the breadth of access that justify its continuation. It should be eliminated. In addition to the Registered Traveler Program, there are several major passenger information initiatives that the Federal Government is pursuing. They are Custom and Border Protection’s Advance Passenger Information System Pre-Departure proposed rule (also known as APIS Quick Query or AQQ), TSA’s soon-to-be-released Secure Flight Program, and the Centers for Disease Control’s passenger contact information proposed rule. Although these initiatives have the common basic characteristic of requiring access to passenger data in airlines’ possession, they remain essentially uncoordinated. That is inexplicable and deserves close attention. Intuitively, one would assume that considerations of economy would have produced far more commonality among Federal programs that are both security oriented and data dependent. The fact that this has not happened should prompt an examination of these program’s efficacy—how well they will achieve their stated aviation security objectives; their efficiency—how economically they will accomplish those objectives and whether less costly alternatives exist; and their protection of privacy—how thoroughly they will preserve passengers’ expectations of privacy, and how adequately and transparently they delimit governmental agencies’ use of personal information. Expanding passenger information requirements creates significant new demands on airlines and travelers, as well as on governmental agencies, and generates substantial attendant expenses. In light of those considerations, these programs should be as unified as possible in their content and information transmission requirements. ***** The government’s passenger security initiatives need considerable more scrutiny and coordination to assure their maximum effectiveness. In the case of the Registered Traveler Program, we believe that this scrutiny should lead to scarce government and airport resources being directed to improving the screening experience of all passengers, rather than the few. PubZone2	A4A advocates measures to support aviation safety, security and well-being.