Indonesian Customs began working on the electronic exchange of passenger data between airlines and Customs in early 2008, as part of their implementation of an Advance Passenger Information (API) transmission system. At that time, passenger processing techniques consisted of screening API data transmitted from airlines’ departure control systems via the existing Society Internationale de Télécommunication Aeronautics (SITE) communication network, and requesting Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for specific flights to be provided by email or on paper. The new API system, which took almost two years to complete, was formally launched in December 2009. It was a non-interactive batch-style system built according to the API guidelines developed by the Who, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As most airlines were not ready to transmit data on baggage and seat numbers, only 12 of the 14 data elements were requested at the beginning to give them time to comply.
The new passenger screening system allowed for more efficient checks of all inbound and outbound passengers and crew. However, the rapid growth in the number of air passengers entering or leaving Indonesian territory, and the need to facilitate travel and protect the border from emerging risks, led to the Customs authority’s decision to begin considering a more systematic use of PNR data stored within airlines’ Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) in order to enhance Customs’ capacity to deliver on its security mandate.
Implementing API and PNR transmission and processing systems will prove to be very different:
First, in terms of the volume of data to be processed – up to 76 data elements for PNR compared to only 14 basic data elements for API;
Second, as regards the degree of data standardization – the API data standard is almost the same across airlines, whereas PNR data differs widely;
Third, vis-à-vis the frequency and timing of data transfer – data is provided only once for API, but five times for PNR;
Last but not least, in terms of the communication solutions used to exchange data – most airlines in Indonesia use the SITE Network for API while different global distribution services (GDS) are used for PNR.
Physical inspection of a traveler and a travel document is nowadays only part of the border controls on passengers arriving by air, or any other means of transport. In an increasing number of countries, the rest of the border control process relies on secure electronic data sent before the arrival of the passenger in the country of destination.
It all began in July 1988, when the United States (US) government invited, for the very first time, representatives from the airline industry to come together to discuss a new idea – that providing them with information about passengers while the flight was en route would not only enable relevant border agencies to perform risk-based targeted controls on passengers and the goods being carried, but also enable the flight to be processed effectively.
This resulted in the first voluntary transmission of advanced passenger information (API) on flights from Tokyo to San Francisco, Honolulu and Los Angeles in the summer of 1990. API consists of the traveler’s full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, country of residence, type of travel document, and the travel document number.
Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on US territory, the US and other countries deemed it necessary, in order to combat terrorism and serious crime, to go beyond the API requirements and require airlines to also transmit what is known as Passenger Name Record (PNR) data – the generic name given to records created by aircraft operators or their authorized agents for each journey booked by or on behalf of any passenger. PNR data can contain significant amounts of personal data, including full names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, travel itineraries, and more.
After the uptake of API implementation around the world in the 1990s and PNR in the 2000s, governments and industry working together developed standards on data requirements and data transmission procedures to respond to the danger of non-uniform implementation of passenger information systems.
Among other things, a patchwork of various approaches to passenger data exchange requirements and data transmission procedures was seen as creating delays, threatening the ability of transport operators to comply with national legislation, and leading to the unnecessary expenditure of hundreds of millions of US dollars as these operators sought to modify their systems to respond to non-harmonized program requirements.
Despite the efforts to achieve harmonization, with the rapid proliferation of the use of advance data transmission around the world came a multiplication of systems and requirements; some were standardized and others merely a unilateral implementation of ideas that did not work in a global environment.
Just a few countries were pioneering the use of passenger data exchange as part of their border strategies at the beginning of the 21st century. Today, about 60 countries have data exchange provisions in effect, and experts anticipate that the number of countries requiring API or PNR or both will continue to increase rapidly over the next few years.
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