Indianapolis International Airport's board this morning voted unanimously to move forward with a registered traveler program and is in the midst of finalizing a deal with Verified Identity Pass. Pending Transportation Security Administration approval, Indianapolis will join Orlando's airport—which last summer launched the first privately run trusted-traveler test—and San Jose International Airport, both of which signed with Verified to operate a screening system for travelers who satisfy background checks.
To join such programs, travelers must submit information for a background check and then are issued a smart card, giving them access to separate lines at airport security checkpoints. Although Verified Identity Pass is the only company issuing an applicable smart card, other firms are gearing up to get into the newly minted fast-track screening market.
Saflink Corp. last month partnered with Microsoft, Johnson Controls and Expedia to launch a program similar to Verified's. In a statement, the company said the group "will work to offer improved Homeland Security and an expedited travel experience to participants across a large number of domestic airports."
Following a five-airport test run that ended in September, TSA is in the midst of setting guidelines and technical standards for private companies to follow when operating the Registered Traveler program, which is scheduled to launch on a nationwide basis on June 20
(BTN, Nov. 14, 2005).
TSA last month issued a request for information, asking such government contractors as Unisys and Electronic Data Systems—which both ran separate Registered Traveler pilot programs—as well as other entrants to lay out business models for programs. TSA set a Jan. 20 deadline for the RFIs, which will help determine how such programs will be operated.
Ahead of TSA's deadline for interoperability and technical standards, Verified Identity Pass CEO Steven Brill in November said the company and its competitors are poised to sign Registered Traveler deals with between 30 and 40 major U.S. airports in the next six months. "We just want to be ready to go once TSA gives the approval and sets up the final guidelines," said an Indianapolis Airport spokesperson. "That way we'll be ahead of the curve."
Brill this week told
Business Travel News, "We're talking to every major airport in the country, as are some competitors. We'll get some and they'll get some."
Meanwhile, Brill said his company is working with corporate travel industry players to offer unique programs and volume discounts to corporate clients who wish to purchase annual memberships.
"We're talking to every major corporate travel service provider," Brill said. "All the big names in your publication. My guess is we'll end up with deals with most, if not all, of them, probably by the end of this month."
Brill expects to add Sacramento International Airport to VIP's roster soon. "Sacramento has said publicly that their board has instructed them to negotiate a contract with us, which we're in the final stages of doing, but they've in essence chosen us."
While Brill in recent years was at the forefront of conceptualizing a privately run and government-backed trusted traveler program, he said he welcomed competition in the burgeoning market. "I knew that if the idea worked, if the business model worked the way it did in Orlando, then there would be others entering the field," said Brill, the media mogul who founded Court TV. "That's a good thing because when CNN started televising some trials we killed them in the ratings, but it sort of legitimized the idea. It created, if you will, a larger industry for Court TV. Here, the fact that there are some other players getting into it legitimizes the idea and we will get less than 100 percent of a much larger pie, as opposed to 100 percent."