Advance passenger information
The US Department of Homeland Security is implementing a new regulation for private aircraft (Part 91) with which all flights departing from or returning to the United States will be required to comply. This means that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will require that electronic notices of arrival and departure as well as electronic manifests relative to all travellers (passengers and crew) be submitted within specific timeframes through an electronic Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS).
The new regulation came into effect in December 2008 but compliance is not mandatory until 18 May 2009. Although voluntary until 18 May it is understood that customs is trying to encourage early participation to ensure operators are used to the new procedures prior to the mandatory date.
In order to comply all operators are encouraged to enrol on the eAPIS website and manually enter data through the website (http://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/). As all eAPIS manifests must be submitted to the CBP electronically Harrods Aviation has made the website easily accessible from the PCs in both our crew and passenger lounges for your convenience.
Submission must be made within the following timeframe for the operator to comply with the reporting requirements:
– For flights originally destined for the United States, no later than 60 minutes prior to departure of the aircraft from the foreign port; or
– For flights not originally destined to the United States, but diverted to a US port due to an emergency, no later than 30 minutes prior to arrival (in cases of non compliance, CBP will take into consideration that the carrier was not equipped to make the transmission and the circumstance of the emergency situation); or
– For flights departing the United States, no later than 60 minutes prior to departure.
Harrods Aviation would urge all its operators to investigate fully the CBP’s requirements prior to the mandatory compliance date of 18 May and to check with their routing agent as some are developing their own systems to assist with the gathering of the required information.
First Avenue
London Stansted Airport
Stansted | Essex
CM24 1QQ
UK
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