Thousands could be grounded by US-EU air security spat
USA TODAY, 08/31/2006
TOKYO (AFP) — Over 100,000 people a week could be stopped from flying unless the United States and the European Union strike a deal over the provision of sensitive information on passengers, the top industry body said Thursday.
The EU's top court in May overturned a decision forcing airlines to supply data on European passengers to US authorities as part of a security crackdown, giving the two sides until September 30 to reach a new agreement.
"The US and Europe must move quickly to avoid a big potential crisis over the Atlantic in the following weeks," said the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Giovanni Bisignani. "Failure to agree by September 30 could ground up to 105,000 travelers a week," he told reporters in a speech in Tokyo.
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, wants a new deal after the European Court of Justice quashed the previous agreement, ruling that it was "founded on an inappropriate legal basis."
Under the old agreement, airlines were required to provide the US authorities with more than 30 pieces of data on passengers and crew, including credit card information, addresses and telephone numbers, 15 minutes before departure.
The EU-US accord was reached in 2004 as a number of aircraft were being prevented from entering the United States over concerns that suspicious passengers were aboard. It was lambasted by civil liberties and privacy groups.
Meanwhile, IATA also predicted that the global airline industry will almost halve its losses in 2006 thanks to buoyant economic growth and deep cost cuts. After a loss of 3.2 billion dollars in 2005, the industry is now expected to remain in the red to the tune of 1.7 billion dollars this year, much less than the 3.0 billion dollars previously feared, the association said.
"With an average price of oil at 68 dollars (per barrel) for the year we expect the total fuel bill to be 115 billion dollars but losses will be cut to 1.7 billion dollars," Bisignani said.
He attributed the improvement to "efficiency, hard work and a strong revenue environment." Overall, the industry has never been so lean, mean and well poised to return to profitability," he added.