El Salvador inaugurates its new Advanced Passenger Information (API) system

El Salvador's international airport

The country of El Salvador recently inaugurated a new Advance Passenger Information (API) system to enhance control of the nation’s air borders. Inaugurated in late May, the API system is now in use by all major airlines operating in the country. It is designed to monitor and control the movement of passengers and crew members during arrivals and departures of commercial air carriers.

The new API system is the result of a successful collaboration which started in 2009 between ARINC Inc., air carriers operating in El Salvador and the El Salvador Department of Immigration. ARINC is responsible for the front-end of the system, and the El Salvador Department of Immigration has provided the back-end.

ARINC’s deliverables included the network infrastructure, network protocol and message format conversion, messaging services and around-the-clock technical and maintenance support.

Operational testing with all carriers preceded the official system inauguration. Airlines operating in El Salvador and utilizing the system include Continental Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Copa Airlines, Avianca-Taca and Mexicana. Iberia will use the system when it begins its El Salvador service in October 2010.

“We feel confident in choosing ARINC for this vital work,” said Ruben Alvarado Fuentes, Director of El Salvador’s Department of Immigration. “ARINC has demonstrated that it is a very serious partner, with the sole objective of helping El Salvador secure the Nation’s borders.”

“ARINC looks forward to a long and productive relationship with the Immigration Department in El Salvador,” said Yun Chong, Vice President of ARINC Aviation Network Solutions. “Our goal is to exceed their expectations in all areas of this collaborative arrangement, and earn their ongoing trust and loyalty. El Salvador is a testament of the importance Electronic Borders plays in protecting a nation’s borders, and ARINC is eager to assist El Salvador in all future Border Control objectives.”

An API system forms part of the ARINC Electronic Borders portfolio of solutions. ARINC developed its Electronic Borders portfolio to meet modern national border security challenges. It utilizes ARINC’s expertise in aviation, government, surface and maritime transportation, IT and systems integration to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective solutions possible, says a press release issued by ARINC on August 10.

“Electronic Borders allows passenger information to be examined long before check-in -- helping to optimize efficiency and passenger flow as critical new security requirements are instituted,” explains ARINC on its Web site. “By using ICAO-defined machine readable zones (MRZs) on passports, information is stored and processed electronically, and data is then translated into required BCA formats.”