STATEMENT
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2004 – James C. May, President and CEO of the Air Transport Association, made the following comments today regarding testing of the Secure Flight program by the Transportation Security Administration:
"We are studying the final order. As a general matter, we look forward to working with the Transportation Security Administration on this test phase of Secure Flight. We continue to support the concept of Secure Flight, which promises to deliver a higher level of protection and fewer hassles for travelers. U.S. airlines have long-standing concerns that center on privacy and operational issues. We hope that many of the issues will be successfully addressed during the test phase of Secure Flight. It's important to strike a balance between the security of airline passengers and their privacy. This is one of the reasons that U.S. carriers are enthusiastic supporters of the Registered Traveler program, which is designed to get people through airports faster."
ATA airline members transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic.
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