DHS Rolls Out E-Passport Readers At U.S. AirportsThe Department of Homeland Security continues to prepare U.S. airports to accept biometric passports ahead of an Oct. 26 deadline that requires U.S. ports to be able to process and authenticate data on e-passports issued by Visa Waiver Program countries. New passport readers were installed at Honolulu International Airport and Kona International Airport this month. A reader installed in San Francisco in September had processed 1,944 e-passports as of Oct. 12, DHS said. Another 30 airports will receive the readers throughout the month. The e-passport is intended to enhance the security of international travel documents without disrupting the flow of legitimate travel to the United States. It contains a microchip with the holder's biographic information along with a biometric identifier, such as a digital photograph. The passports, which bear an international e-passport symbol on the cover, are designed to prevent unauthorized access to data stored on the chip. The U.S. has been working with the 27 Visa Waiver Program countries to facilitate the use of e-passports. Some 13 million people travel to the United States from Visa Waiver Program countries for either business or leisure and can stay for up to 90 days without additional documentation. Critics fear the e-passports will make crossing borders more difficult. When applying to enter the United States, travelers who have a valid machine-readable passport with a digital photograph do not need to obtain a new e-passport until the existing passport expires, if the digital photograph passport was issued before Oct. 26, 2006.
U.S., E.U. Strike Passenger-Data DealThe United States and the European Union earlier this month reached an interim agreement enabling passenger name record data to be transferred to the U.S. by European carriers. "The interim agreement enables PNR data in the reservation systems of air carriers to continue to be transferred to the U.S. in the same way as under the previous agreement," the delegation of the European Commission to the United States said in a statement. The European Court of Justice in May ruled that the E.U. Council of Ministers did not have the legal status to agree that European airlines should give U.S. officials airline passenger name record data and gave the European Union until Sept. 30 to find a new legal solution
(BTN, June 5). The agreement, however, awaits approval by the E.U. Council, and "will apply provisionally as of the date of signature," expiring July 31, 2007.
JetBlue Wins FAA Approval for O'Hare FlightsThe Federal Aviation Administration has granted JetBlue Airways permission to make four flights a day to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport starting in January. JetBlue had sought eight slots at the world's second-largest airport but reduced the request by half last month after the airport's biggest carriers, United Airlines and American Airlines, objected. JetBlue hasn't announced destinations from Chicago. FAA, which is limiting traffic at O'Hare during peak periods to relieve congestion, approved arrival times of 8:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and two slots at 11 a.m. "JetBlue must initiate service at ORD by Oct. 28, 2006, and it must commence flight operations by Jan. 27, 2007," James Whitlow, FAA deputy chief counsel for policy and adjudication, said in an Oct. 13 letter to the airline.
Comair Wants FAA, Lexington to Pay Some Crash CostsComair, the commuter airline owned by Delta Air Lines, wants the Federal Aviation Administration and the Lexington, Ky., airport to help pay lawsuit settlements from a Aug. 27 crash that killed 49 people. The airline, in a legal filing, said FAA shares responsibility for the accident because only one air traffic controller was on duty at the time and it inspected and approved the airport's runways. The airline said the airport shares responsibility for not ensuring that they were safe. Comair Flight 5191 crashed after taking off from a runway that was too short. The National Transportation Safety Board still is investigating the the cause of the pre-dawn crash. So far, 11 lawsuits have been filed in the incident, Comair said.
TSA Graduates New Canine TeamsSeven teams of explosive-sniffing dogs and their handlers graduated from a national training program and will be deployed to airports around the country, the Transportation Security Administration said. The deployment brings to about 450 the number of canine teams nationwide. During training, teams spent much of their time searching for explosives training aids in specialized indoor and outdoor training labs that included an aircraft fuselage, a terminal area, a cargo warehouse and a newly created mass transit terminal. They practiced searching luggage and a parking lot filled with vehicles. The graduates have been assigned to airports in West Palm Beach, Fla.; San Jose, Calif.; Houston and Indianapolis. Some teams were assigned to mass transit systems in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.