Citing ‘Risk Analysis’: Airlines Asked To Share International Passengers’ Contact With Customs

New Delhi: Citing ‘risk analysis’, the government has asked airlines to share international passengers’ details with the customs department.

Now, every airline is required to provide Passenger Name Record (PNR) details to the National Customs Targeting Centre-Passenger (NCTC-P) no later than 24 hours before the departure time.

The government said this is being done with an aim to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute offences under the Customs Act.

The passenger’s name record information will include details like PNR, date of reservation, benefit information (like free tickets, upgrades) and an issue of ticket as well as frequent flyer.

The details will also contain payment or billing information, travel itinerary and the travel agency.

With this move, India has now joined the list of other 50 countries that also collect PNR details of international passengers.

CBIC also stated that a penalty of Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 will be levied in case an air operator does not comply with the mandate.