The US transport security body has sought a unique “one-stop agreement” with India to end re-screening of passengers, saying this “truly powerful” concept will enhance global aviation security standards.
Addressing the India-US Aviation Summit here on Tuesday, US Transportation Security Administration (USTSA) Administrator David Pekoske said the one-stop security concept between the two countries is “very accessible”.
He said, “I think a common security between India and America is a very concrete and accessible thing.”
“It’s a concept that speeds up the movement of passengers and baggage to their destinations by eliminating duplication of security controls at transfer points,” Pekoske said.
He said that in case of a one-stop agreement, passengers who arrive at an airport in another country and have a connecting domestic flight will not be required to re-check and their checked bags will move from one aircraft to the other.
Describing it as “a really powerful” concept, Pekoske said it raises global aviation safety standards.
“Flights coming to the US are more secure. If there is a reverse agreement between the US and India, under which US checks meet Indian requirements, it means flights coming to India will also be more secure. This requires regular exchange of information,” he said.
“Improvements to security processes are needed to maintain the agreement. This will reduce security costs through better allocation of resources, reduce flight connection times and missed connections, and improve the passenger experience,” he said.
Pekoske said the two countries should consider signing a memorandum of understanding to share sensitive security information.
“We have a category of classification of information that is not truly classified material, but it is so sensitive that it requires additional protection,” he said.
He said whenever sensitive security information is shared — which is vital to the growing partnership — a Memorandum of Understanding is required that covers aspects of that sharing arrangement.
He said both the TSA and India’s transportation security situation were born out of brutal tragedy.
For India, it was the bombing of Air India ‘Kanishka’ flight 182 in 1985, while for the TSA, it was the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
“These tragic events were a revolutionary change in our thinking about transportation safety that continues to this day,” he said.
Meanwhile, addressing the summit, US Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Whitaker said India and the US need to work together on issues such as aviation security.
Emphasising that security is a team sport, he said data sharing between the two countries could lead to better identification and mitigation of risks in the sector.
“Our (US and India’s) national aviation systems are inextricably linked in a global network,” he said, adding that the two countries have contiguous airspace, integrated supply chains, and international services that link their economies and people.
“We need to work together on issues like safety, we need to share ideas and innovation, particularly on how to safely incorporate these new technologies into our airspace,” he said.
He said the two countries have different systems that will take different approaches to solving challenges, “We can and should work together to share best practices and learn from each other.” He added, “We are all interested in increasing safety in our own countries, but we must work together to raise the level of safety in the global aviation system.”
“This means sharing data. Sharing information will allow us to better identify and mitigate risks before they become accidents and before they become failures in the security layers in our system,” he said.
“When I started working in aviation, unfortunately accidents were not uncommon. They were almost annual occurrences, and safety regulators learned from those accidents and made the system safer,” he said.
“We’ve moved beyond that model over the last couple of decades, and accidents are now extremely rare, and they’re completely unacceptable as a consequence,” Whittaker said.
“Our challenge is to take safety to the next level, and that means we have to actively analyze data and detect risks of failure and mitigate them before they happen,” he said.
Emphasising that all types of jobs in aviation are in high demand, he said: “For regulators this means new questions about how we oversee these operations.”
“We have to find a safe and effective way to regulate these new entrants, who are working at the speed of a startup, while we are working at the speed of the government,” he said.
He said there is a need to consider how to bridge this gap, identify these risks and leverage technology to incorporate them safely into the airspace.
“In the United States, we have seen public perceptions about the safety and risks of this system evolve over time,” he stressed. “As more people have access to aviation, the expectation that the system will be completely safe will grow.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
