ATA and AEA Urge DHS Secretary Chertoff that steps be taken to coordinate APIS Quick Query and Secure Flight

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 and AEA Urge DHS Secretary Chertoff that steps be taken to coordinate APIS Quick Query and Secure Flight
	PubZone1 October 27, 2005 The Honorable Michael Chertoff Secretary Department of Homeland Security 3801 Nebraska Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20528 Dear Mr. Secretary: Earlier this year we wrote you expressing our serious concerns with the suggestion that the Department (DHS) was considering a requirement for Advanced Passenger Information (API) one hour prior to a flight’s department to or from the United States (APIS-60). Such a requirement would, as we indicated have serious negative consequence for international air transportation. We greatly appreciate the fact that our concerns are being listened to. More recently, as part of the ongoing related effort to resolve passenger pre-screening concerns, we have been involved in discussions with both the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regarding their respective efforts and plans to assume full responsibility for all prescreening of airline passengers. This would allow for elimination of selectee and no-fly lists administered by the air carriers as well as addressing the APIS-60 issue. We applaud these efforts and we are eager to work with the Department and provide our support. Unfortunately, while both agencies are headed to the same general goal, it appears that there is a lack of full coordination of their respective efforts. As a consequence, there is a serious risk that extremely limited resources will be wasted in the development of analogous programs to effectively accomplish the same end result, all but with one system working domestically and the other internationally. Obviously, we are all eager to avoid such inefficiencies and we are hopeful that a single, unified system will be developed and deployed in the near term. As a result, we are urging that steps be taken at once to coordinate and integrate both the CBP’s APIS Quick Query (AQQ) initiative and the TSA Secure Flight program. Both should be designed to function through coordinated information feeds and avoid unnecessary duplication of communications, programming and information requirements. Ideally, from an airline industry point of view, a real-time, interactive passenger prescreening process should incorporate on a number of key features: They should supersede the No-Fly Lists and reduce the amount of redundant data required from the airlines. Response time for a “board/don’t board” message should be no greater than 2 seconds per passenger in order to avoid additional delays at check in and boarding. Timeframe for implementation should be consistent with airlines’ financial and technical constraints. They should be compatible with other interactive systems such as the Australian Advanced Passenger Processing (APP). They should remain operational until the flight departure time to permit transfer passenger handling and accommodate irregular flight operations. The number of “no-boards” or referrals must be manageable and the identification parameters set appropriately. The Government should provide for rapid resolution of “no-boards”. Overall development costs should be born by the government and technical specifications must not result in major overhauls of airlines IT systems at their own expense. Please be assured that we are absolutely committed to working with DHS to develop the best possible passenger prescreening system and will do everything within our ability to advance that goal. As always, we greatly appreciate your taking our concerns into consideration. Sincerely, James C. May President and CEO Air Transport Association Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus Secretary General Association of European Airlines cc: CBP Commissioner, Robert C. Bonner TSA Administration, Kip Hawley ATA Member Airlines: ABX Air, Inc., Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air Jamaica Ltd., Alaska Airlines, Inc., Aloha Airlines, Inc., America West Airlines, Inc., American Airlines, Inc., ASTAR Air Cargo, Inc., ATA Airlines, Inc., Atlas Air, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc., Delta Air Lines, Inc., Evergreen International Airlines, Inc., FedEx Corporation, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways Corp., Mexicana, Midwest Airlines, Inc., Northwest Airlines, Inc., Polar Air Cargo, Southwest Airlines Co., United Airlines, Inc., UPS Airlines, US Airways, Inc. *Associate Member ATA, 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20004 www.airlines.org AEA Member Airlines: Adria Airways, Aer Lingus, Air France, Air Malta, Alitalia, Austrian, bmi, British Airways, Cargolux, Croatia Airlines, CSA, Cyprus Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Icelandair, Jat Airways, KLM, LOT, Lufthansa, Luxair, Malev, Meridiana, Olympic Airlines, SAS, SN Brussels Airlines, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Tarom, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways AEA, Avenue Louise 350B – 1050 Brussels, 32 (0)2 639 89 99, www.aea.be PubZone2	A4A advocates measures to support aviation safety, security and well-being.