icao capsca

19/06/2013 CAPSCA 4th Global 1

ICAO CAPSCA

4th Global Coordination Meeting

Bern, June 18 - 21, 2013


Contact Tracing in International Travel

Passenger Name Record (PNR)

and

Contact Tracing

Claude Thibeault MD

Medical Advisor


- Trade association of world’s airlines - Represent, lead, serve

- Incorporated in Canada in 1945 - ‘Not for profit’ organization

- ~ 240 member airlines in 130 nations ~ 84% of passenger and cargo traffic

- ~ 1300 employees around the globe

- Mains offices: Montreal and Geneva - Many regional/national offices

NO TYPE OR IMAGES CAN

TOUCH THE SKY

International Air Transport Association


PNR - Record of a passenger’s travel in

reservation systems

- Tool created by airlines for

airlines

- Very variable information

- Contents Not regulated by

governments

API - Advanced passenger

information

- Tool created by governments

- Specific and consistent

information

- Contents Regulated by national

governments




API - Mainly passport information, i.e. biographic data and flight

details

- Contents regulated by national governments, but only data

elements that are available in machine readable form in

travel documents (ICAO Standard, Annex 9, 3.47.1)

- A number of ICAO Recommended Practices also apply to

the API (3.47.2, 3.47.3, 3.47.4, 3.47.5, 3.47.6)



API (cont’d)

- Information provided to destination border control within

24 hours of departure

- Transmission (message format) regulated by ICAO

referring to the API guidelines of WCO/IATA/ICAO

- Currently used by 42 States, with another 28 in the

process

- Not useful for contact tracing



PNR - Reservation data for the operating airline

- Contents not regulated

- Can be very limited: passenger name and flight details (in

case of some travel agents)

- Can also be very detailed, containing sensitive

information, but not necessarily containing the pertinent

data for the requesting government



PNR (cont’d) - Very often it will not contain the seat number (<50%)

- Departure Control System (DCS) data may of may not be

brought back into the PNR (passenger manifest)

- Nine (9) States currently require access to PNR, with

several other thinking about it (ex: EU)

- ICAO, WCO and IATA have developed global standards

and guidelines to facilitate data exchange between industry

and government



PNR (cont’d)

- ICAO Recommended Practice: ‘Contracting States requiring

PNR access should conform their data requirement and

their handling of such data to guidelines developed by

ICAO’ (ICAO document 9944)

- If a State request access to PNR, it should accept the

standard message format and the ‘Single Window’

approach



Airline

State

Customs Health Immigration

Airline

State



Is the PNR a good tool for contact tracing?

Not really!

What could work better?



Contact Tracing: When?

- When a passenger has a suspected communicable

disease during a flight or during an outbreak of a

communicable disease (PLF)

- Days or months after a flight when it is determined that

a passenger with a communicable disease was on that

flight.



What is the objective?

The best way for the responsible authorities to

get all useful and accurate data quickly, without

generating other problems.



The challenges:

• Limiting the number of assumptions

• Achieving harmonization

• Minimizing the time to get the information

• Obtaining accurate information

• Minimizing technical and financial difficulties

• Maintaining privacy



A few years ago the Passenger Contact

Information Working Group (PCIWG) was

established by the IATA Joint Passenger Services

Committee (JPSC) to look at permanent

alternatives for PCT.



Conclusion

The electronic mean is the answer

Ex: Australian Visa (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation)

with no airline involvement except for the seat number



Advantages

- Very simple system

- Electronic system

- Eliminates the need for Passenger Locator Form

- Uses a permanent file that can be updated very quickly (few minutes)

for another trip

- Does not make any assumptions

- Does not rely on the good will of the passengers involved

- Fastest way to retrieve the information when needed



Advantages (cont’d)

- Involves only the States that are interested in contact tracing

- Those States can do what they want without interfering with airline

operations, as the interaction is only between the passenger and the

States visited

- No need for harmonization or any consensus between States

- The States can keep the information as long as they want

- Eliminates the transfer of personal information between third parties

- Cost is limited to the States that do contact tracing

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Thank you for your attention

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