The United States has told 58 foreign airlines their passengers will be subject to extremely thorough and long searches on arrival unless the airlines provide information needed to spot possible terrorists, US media reported.
Under a new aviation security law signed by President George Bush, passengers on Saudi, Russian, Chinese and other foreign airlines will be subjected to the new measures.
Media reports said the commissioner of customs, Robert Bonner, had told airlines that if they failed to comply customs inspectors would search "all hand-carried and checked baggage on every flight arriving in the United States".
Any delay in implementing the measure could put security at risk, he said.
The searches could add hours to the clearance process for overseas travellers.
The letter was sent to 58 carriers, including Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Aeroflot and Air China.
Under the law, airlines had two months to begin the electronic transmission of passenger lists for all flights to the United States.
The Customs Service said it had received very few responses.
A spokesman for the Jordanian airline said it would comply, while other carriers said they did not know much about the new requirement or were still studying it, it added.
For more than a decade, federal officials have been asking airlines to participate in the system used to compare biographical data on international air travellers with lists of suspected terrorists and criminals.
Lists are compiled by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The Customs Service checks the names against several databases, including the Interagency Border Inspection System and files maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
TTN is the most established trade publication in the Middle East distributed on a controlled circulation basis to members of the travel and tourism industry.
Published monthly by Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group, the region’s foremost trade publisher, TTN is aimed at professionals in the industry, from travel agents to airline and hotel personnel.
TTN provides in-depth and extensive coverage of relevant issues in the Middle East and North Africa as well as in other parts of the world. Travel related news, analysis, and new appointments together with information on up-coming exhibitions, marketing and promotional campaigns are presented in an innovative and striking colour tabloid.
Every issue also contains a collation of international and regional news and topical features of interest to readers.
Bahrain: | +973 1729 3131 |
Dubai: | +971 4 3422 020 |
London: | +44 208 943 3630 |
Editorial: | [email protected] |
Advertising: | [email protected] |