New travel rule: Govt mandates airlines to share international passenger data, PNR, and itinerary with Customs

The government has asked airlines to mandatorily share details of foreign travellers with the Indian Customs authorities from April 1, 2025. Penalties will be imposed for non-compliance.

The air transport service providers operating flights in India will be required to register themselves with the National Customs Targeting Centre-Passenger (NCTC-Pax) by January 10, 2025, PTI reported, citing a communication issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

Details such as the mobile number, payment mode, and travel itinerary must be shared with the authorities nearly 24 hours before the international flight departs.

The airlines should share passenger name records (PNR) of foreign travellers with the Customs department, the CBIC notified on August 8, 2022. The government aims to improve the risk analysis of passengers through the latest move.

The Customs Department will impose a penalty ranging from ₹25,000-50,000 for every act of non-compliance if the airline fails to share data.

The current system to regulate international passenger data was developed by NCTC-Pax and a phased rollout will start from January 2025, the latest CBIC communication said.

PNRGOV system

Additionally, the Customs Department will implement the PNRGOV system to collect requisite passenger information on a pilot basis as some airlines have expressed their willingness to participate.

“The pilot phase is scheduled to be implemented by February 10, 2025. Thereafter, full-scale operation is planned from April 1, 2025, for individual airlines and from June 1, 2025, for airlines intending to operate through GDS (global distribution system),” the CBIC said.

According to the ‘Passenger Name Record Information Regulations, 2022’, airlines must share the data of all international passengers with Customs authorities 24 hours before the flight’s departure.

Airlines must share information such as the passenger’s name, billing/payment information (credit card number), the date of issue of the ticket, the intended travel, the names of other travellers in the same PNR, and the travel itinerary for the PNR both inbound and outbound international flights.