Six more airports to come under APIS

With recent intelligence inputs suggesting that Pakistan-based terrorists may copy Al Qaida’s 9/11-type operation to mount an aerial attack on India, the government has decided to extend Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) — which allows real-time passenger/crew screening by security agencies — to six more international airports. The airports to be covered under APIS are Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Goa, Thiruvananthapuram and Amritsar. The system — which makes it mandatory for international airline pilots to provide information about passengers and crew on board within 15 minutes of taking off — is operational at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi international airports. Sources in the home ministry said the decision was part of a number of precautionary measures being taken by different agencies in the wake of intelligence inputs which warned of terror attacks through aerial route around December 6, the anniversary of Babri masjid demolition. APIS in India is, however, a notch lower than the system followed in the US. While the US had made it mandatory to share passenger/crew information prior to boarding, India has stuck to the older version which provides for passing on details within 15 minutes of taking off.