HONG KONG BUSINESS AVIATION CENTRE PARTNERS WITH

UNCLAS HONG KONG 000515 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ASEC ECON OVIP HK SUBJECT: HONG KONG BUSINESS AVIATION CENTRE PARTNERS WITH TSA ¶1. (SBU) At a March 5 meeting, Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre (BAC) General Manager Madonna Fung told visiting U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Cindy Farkus, that BAC would join the Secure Fixed Base Operator Program (SFBOP) on April 1, 2009. The SFBOP is a U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) public-private sector partnership program whereby fixed base operators (BAC in this case) physically check the identifications of passenger and crew against charter/business planes' Air Passenger Information System (APIS) filings. Pilots or their designees currently must submit APIS information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel in advance of flights to the U.S. Under the SFBOP, BAC will notify TSA of its APIS verification checks within 60 minutes of aircraft departure and highlight any discrepancies. BAC is the only fixed base operator supporting private/business aircraft in Hong Kong. DONOVAN