DNA

Mumbai, Aug 6: Private carrier Jet Airways has become the first airline in the country to have smart security system for passengers flying to United States.

The high-tech scanning system for air passengers was introduced for the first time by Jet Airways at the launch of its maiden flight from Mumbai to the US on Saturday.

“The system enables us to scan a passenger flying to the US and check whether he is on US’ ‘No-Fly-Passenger’ (NFP) list. There are some 80,000 people across the world who are on the US watch list.

Earlier, maintaining a watch on such passengers could only be done manually as we would make checks through other means. After the introduction of this technology, we can scan all the 80,000 names within seconds,’’ said a Jet Airways security official.

The system was first introduced by US-based airlines in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

“All US airlines, excluding American Airlines which has its own systems, use the software. The list is prepared according to high risk and low risk passengers. The current software was upgraded two years ago,” said Adan Morik of I-Sec.

The airline though has to pay for the use of the system. Jet has to pay $100 per flight. In case of a stopover, Jet passengers will be screened through the same system again.