Security

Central America to start one-stop security pilots

Panama and El Salvador’s CAAs agreed to pilot the first one-stop security schemes outside of Europe. The pilots will allow connecting passengers and baggage to forego re-screening, provided they have arrived from a secure location with equivalent security standards.

Local airlines COPA and TACA worked intensively with IATA to develop a validation process which will rely mostly on collecting existing information about the security of third countries. One-stop security complies with ICAO Annex 17 Standards and will ensure that Panama City and San Salvador airports remain efficient platforms for connections.

IATA intends to showcase the region’s pilots during the ICAO High Level Security Conference in September.

For more information, contact secfal@iata.org  

Progress on mutual recognition of cargo security

On 1 June, the European Commission (EC) and the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agreed to mutually recognize their cargo security regimes. The agreement means that the US is recognizing the equivalency and effectiveness of EU cargo security regimes as applied in all 27 EU countries plus Switzerland.

This will allow all air carriers flying out of the EU and Switzerland to apply EU security measures as a means of complying with US law. Similarly, the EU is recognizing the equivalence of US air cargo security regimes meaning that cargo flying from the US into the EU will not have to be subjected to additional EU security measures at US airports.

While guaranteeing security of air cargo this agreement will significantly reduce redundancies and allow a more seamless flow of air cargo across the Atlantic. The TSA concluded a similar agreement with Canada on 31 May.

IATA strongly supports these efforts made by like-minded regulators to mutually recognize their cargo security measures, avoiding the implementation of extra-territorial measures. IATA is calling upon regulators to also expand these agreements rapidly to benefit passenger travel as well as global trade.

For more information, contact secfal@iata.org  

Checkpoint of the Future

With the Checkpoint of the Future Advisory and Expert Groups firmly established, and with several potential operational trial scenarios developed, good progress is being made toward meeting the 2012 objective. The objective calls for the CoF concept to be developed and for component testing to be conducted at two airports. 

The CoF team is working with several airports, regulators, manufacturers, and airlines to determine viability and timing for testing the CoF components and will incorporate those determinations in a formal agreement.  The Expert Groups are focusing on many of the technical, operational, and policy considerations associated with this year’s priorities, and will be meeting the week of June 25th to agree to the concept development phases and to discuss optimal testing configurations and locations. 

The Advisory Group will also convene next week for their monthly meeting; they will play a key role in validating the test type and locations.

For more information, contact secfal@iata.org