Smaller airlines and passengers, however, may face hurdles when flying internationally
Sen. Ted Stevens indicated this week he will not object to new rules that will require U.S. citizens to have a passport when returning on flights from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean starting Jan. 23.Stevens, R-Alaska, had amended legislation this fall to make sure people entering Alaska on cruise ships and other vessels from Canada would not need a passport starting in January, as the federal government had been planning.
Stevens’ amendment also could be interpreted as delaying a similar requirement for people returning on aircraft from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. However, the federal Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday last week that it will require passports from returning aircraft passengers beginning on Jan. 23.
Tuesday, Stevens’ spokesman Aaron Saunders said the senator would not contest that interpretation of his amendment.
The amendment’s main purpose was to make sure the department had the proper procedures and technology in place before it required passports or similar documentation from U.S. citizens returning at land border crossings and on boats, Saunders said.
The passport requirement for land crossings is scheduled to begin in January 2008. The passport requirement for boat passengers, prior to Stevens’ amendment, was to begin in January 2007 but now must begin on the same day as at land crossings.
Border communities and the travel industry expressed great skepticism in congressional hearings about the department’s ability to have a workable system by January 2007 or even January 2008.
“The senator’s intention was to ensure that the land and sea portions of that requirement were given ample time to be implemented,” Saunders said. “The senator believes Alaska is disproportionately affected by the land and sea provisions.”
Air traffic between Alaska and Canada is not substantial, and the existing security requirements at airports should help implement the passport requirement for flight passengers, Saunders said.
Joseph Sparling, president of Air North in Whitehorse, the capital of Canada’s Yukon Territory, said his company has served Fairbanks since the mid-1980s, although he has recently limited flights to the summer tourist season only and combined several routes for efficiency. Taking off in Whitehorse, the summer-only flight goes to Dawson and Old Crow, both in the Yukon Territory. The flight then drops into Fairbanks before returning to Dawson and Whitehorse.
About 5,000 passengers ride the flights annually, four-fifths of whom are people in Canada who are headed not to Alaska but other points in Canada, he said.
The passport requirement could cut back on travel by Alaskans, Sparling said. But Canadians also will need a passport from their own government when entering the United States starting Jan. 23, under the new rules.
So Sparling’s big question is whether, for example, Old Crow residents bound for Whitehorse will need to obtain a Canadian passport just because they fly through Fairbanks.
Few people in Old Crow have passports, he said. Requiring such documentation would probably dry up traffic so badly that it wouldn’t be worth flying through Fairbanks anymore, he said.
Sparling said he is still looking into what exactly the governments will require.
“Between now and spring, we have to decide whether we are going to Fairbanks this summer again,” he said.
The company has two flights scheduled in February to coincide with the Yukon Quest sled dog race, and it appears passengers will need passports.
Air North used to fly between Whitehorse and Juneau but canceled the trips two years ago when new taxes and fees nearly doubled the price of a weekend package and reduced demand, Sparling said.
Air Canada also flies between Whitehorse and Anchorage in the summer only. Attempts to contact the company were not successful.
Alaska Airlines has a direct flight between Anchorage and Vancouver, B.C. It also has numerous connections between Alaska and Mexico, although all flights stop first in the United States.
Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Amanda Tobin Bielawski said the company does not expect much change in demand due to the new passport rule. The company boosted service to Mexico by 20 percent this fall to meet growing demand, she said.
“Our experience working with these international-travel customers shows the vast majority of them either already have passports or are aware of the changes and are prepared to present a passport on their next international trip,” she said.
Phone reservation agents are telling people about the new requirements, and the company has information on its Web site, she said.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that passports are held by 69 percent of U.S. citizens visiting Canada. Fifty-eight percent of visitors to Mexico and 75 percent of visitors to the Caribbean have passports, it found. Ninety percent of Canadians leaving airports had passports in September.
Jared Peterson, spokesman for the Border Trade Alliance, said his organization did not object to requiring a passport for aircraft passengers starting Jan. 23.
“The main concern was for the land and sea, that the technology was going to be there,” he said Tuesday.
A passport costs about $100 and requires six to eight weeks to obtain, although private companies offer faster service for a fee. The State Department provides information on the Web at travel.state.gov. The U.S. National Passport Information Center’s number is (877) 4USA-PPT.