The programme, developed by the Department of Homeland Security and administered by the Transportation Security Administration, requires airlines to collect and transmit each passenger’s full name, date of birth and gender at least 72 hours before a flight into the US or a US territory.

Relevant KDS customer bookings will therefore be automatically checked for the mandatory passenger data. If present, the data will be sent in the passenger name record with the booking. If the essential data is missing, KDS will block the booking and alert the user for an update.

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, says: “We’ll be launching this service in October when we unveil the latest version of our market-leading ‘KDS Corporate’ T&E management product. The timing is essential, because from November 1 2010 any airline failing to comply with the Secure Flight programme risks a financial penalty. The passenger in question may well be prevented from flying. That’s why we have rapidly developed this automated compliance check, so that none of our customers will suffer this fate.”

The Secure Flight programme exists to improve the security of US domestic and international commercial air travel through the comprehensive checking of passenger details against terrorist ‘watchlists’.