U.S., Canada eye overflight lists
From CNN Producer Mike M. Ahlers and Correspondent Jeanne Meserve
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and Canadian officials are discussing a U.S. proposal to check airline passenger lists against government watch lists for all flights that enter U.S. airspace.
The U.S. proposal comes after a recent KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight exposed a hole in aviation security: While international flights landing in the United States are required to submit passenger lists to U.S. authorities, flights that cross the United States but do not land in it are not.
There are roughly 500 such overflights a day, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The proposal could force airlines flying over the United States to provide passenger lists to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or require Canada to check passengers against lists of possible terrorists.
The new proposal has large ramifications for airlines in Canada, where even short intercity hops can fly over the United States.
Flights from Halifax to Montreal, for instance, fly over Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, while lengthier flights from Vancouver to Toronto frequently fly over Michigan.
Canadian airlines are concerned the proposal could even apply to flights that do not transit the United States if a U.S. airport is listed as an emergency landing site.
Officials of Transport Canada and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conferred by phone Thursday, according to one U.S. official. He declined to discuss details except to characterize the discussions as "positive."
Another U.S. official said there is "no time frame" for a decision on whether to require passenger lists to be run against U.S. government no-fly and selectee lists.
"It is a complex issue to both evaluate and negotiate," the official said.
Among the matters still being weighed, officials said, is whether to have the U.S. government or the airlines conduct the check, and whether any such requirement would be a violation of international agreements.
According to one of the U.S. officials, under the proposal, if a passenger name matched a name on the no-fly or selectee list, officials would evaluate the individual and the potential risk and then take "appropriate action."
That could mean diverting the aircraft to another airport, rerouting the flight around U.S. airspace or having the flight return to its point of origin.
"This (proposal) is not a unilateral effort on the part of the (U.S.) Transportation Security Administration," but a collaboration with U.S. allies and foreign air carriers, the official said.
A representative of the Canadian airline industry said the airlines understand and respect the need for a rule and intend to abide by it.
But "from an operational perspective, the devil is in the details," said Fred Gaspar of the Air Transport Association of Canada. Airlines want to minimize passenger disruption and find a solution that is "sustainable."
He said the industry favors a system in which the government checks individual passengers as they arrive for a flight, instead of a system in which the complete passenger list is checked after the flight had left the gate.
British Airways spokesman John Lampl told The Associated Press that the airline flies across the United States only on a few flights to Mexico and the Caribbean. Checking passengers against the lists would be "very routine and shouldn't be a problem," Lampl said.
The new policy discussion was sparked by a recent KLM flight from Amsterdam to Mexico. U.S. authorities denied permission for the flight to enter U.S. airspace after hearing from Mexico that two passengers on the flight were on the no-fly list.
The plane, which was then over Canadian airspace, returned to the Netherlands. The plane had 278 people aboard it, and was also carrying 15 horses.
KLM officials said they are under no obligation to check passengers against terror watch lists for planes transiting the United States.
"In our interpretation, this was not a flight to or from the United States. It was to Mexico," KLM spokesman Bart Koster said.
