New Agreement on EU Passenger Data

A follow up to my previous post regarding the ongoing efforts to put a new plan in place for sharing EU passeneger data with the US government. You will recall that the EU courts have thrown out the previous agreement in May of this year and asked that a new one be created by October 1st. The BBC is reporting that the two sides have reached an agreement in prinicipal and are hoping to have formal approval next week.
One big change is that the data will only be "pushed" to the US via airline computer systems versus the previous system which allowed the US to "pull" the data anytime they wanted it. Another change will have all data going to the US Dept of Homeland Security who will then have authority to distribute to other agencies as required. It appears that there were concerns over the ability of other folks, lets say the FBI for instance, having access to this data at will.
On the face of it this appears to be a decent compromise. More control and security over the data for the EU and continued access to the data for the US. It also maintains the ability to share the data amongst the US federal agencies responsible for fighting terrorism. The US Dept of Homeland Security has a difficult task in efficiently distributing this data while trying not not filter or restrict too much of the information being fed to them. Let's hope that extra layer doesn't create a bottleneck on critical info. Timing is everything.

EU Airline Passenger Data Still up in the Air

In May the EU's highest court ruled that a a data sharing agreement between the US and EU airlines had no legal basis and needed to be re-worked. That agreement had airlines providing the US with 34 pieces of data on each passenger within 15 minutes of departure for any US bound flight. Since then the two sides have been working to create a new agreement against a court imposed September 30th deadline. My calendar say October 2nd and, yeah you guessed it, no agreement has been reached yet. Reports ranged from "talks collapsing" to "everything is fine we just need more time". Good grief, how many i's need to be dotted and t's crossed?
In the mean time it appears that the wrath of the EU court system is not going to swoop down on anyone nor is the US likely to make good on its threat to impose a 6,000 per passenger fine on any airline that does not provide the data. In fact it sounds like airlines will keep transmitting the data until further notice...business as usual.

Here's the polished, shiny, politically correct statement issued by the European Commission. See? Everything is fine.

NEWS: EU Open Skies...Maybe

The United States continues to grind out talks with the EU on a new "open skies" policy and the latest incarnation appears to be on hold while the two sides fall back and give it a reality check. There are some big terms to be ironed out, not the least of which is the EU's desire to see foreign ownership restrictions of US Airlines eased. On the US side of the pond there are several big airlines that would love to see the deal go through. Click Read More!.

No doubt Richard Branson, head of everything "Virgin", would be delighted if the US would ease up on foreign ownership restrictions. He has struggled mightily to wangle the right financing packaging for his planned US airline, Virgin America. He's close but I wonder if he might drag his feet a bit to see if the EU can swing some better terms for him.

"Open skies"is an important deal for the big US Airlines who feel that profit margins are better on the long haul flights. They would like to expand in that market to shore up their bottom lines. Delta Airlines is especially interested having been locked out of the coveted Heathrow market while watching American Airlines and United Airlines operate there via rights purchased from TWA and Pan Am. Its noteworthy that Glenn Tilton, President of United Airlines, has also come out in favor of an open skies policy.