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Passengers and crew on all airlines that regularly fly to Australiaare now being screened overseas prior to boarding, Australia'sDepartment of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs(DIMIA) reported on January 24.
This represents an extension ofthe Advance Passenger Processing system, a technology that enablesDIMIA to verify travelers' authorizations to enter Australia. It alsoallows for cross checking against other systems such as the MovementAlert List, a database of people and their travel documents that are ofconcern to the Australian immigration authorities.
The systemwas first trialed on Australia's national airline Qantas in 1995 thenextended to eight other airlines. Coverage of all 46 airlines withregular routes to Australia was completed in the last few weeks. SinceJanuary 2004 the system has been applied to cruise ship passengers, andDIMIA is now trialing the system on some cargo vessels.
DIMIAsays the system helps passengers by making processing in Australia moreefficient, with many minor travel document issues settled beforearrival, and reduces the risks for airlines of having to returnunauthorized passengers.
