SITA, EC talk on passenger data transfers

SITA and the European Commission are discussing the IT options that will be required if the EC is to cooperate with the U.S. on providing airline passenger data without compromising privacy. A May 2004 agreement between the U.S. and the EC was nullified in May by the European Court of Justice on the grounds that it compromised the personal information of passengers. The two are now working out a new agreement, which should replace the current one in September.

SITA says that its “PNR Push Filter” system can provide the 34 data types requested by the U.S. while not contravening tight European privacy laws. The company says that the system is already deployed as part of a similar arrangement for limited data sharing by airlines flying from the European Union to Canada.