The home affairs ministry is hoping to have a new system speeding up airport queues in place by November - in time for the 2010 World Cup, officials said on Wednesday.
"We are targeting November of this year to deploy the system fully," Khodr Akil, vice president for IT aviation specialist Sita in the Middle East and Africa, told a press briefing in Johannesburg.
Home affairs spokeswoman Siobhan McCarthy said this would be in time to deal with the expected 500,000 visitors to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
"By the time 2010 comes, we would have already had some test runs," she said.
The so-called advanced passenger processing (APP), a Sita product, involves passenger pre-clearance prior to boarding a plane, instead of clearing passengers at the port of entry.
South Africa will be the first country in Africa to implement it.
"Essentially, it extends a country's border to the point of departure, as the decision whether to allow entry to a passenger is made at the time of check-in when airlines receive immediate notification to allow, or not to allow, a passenger to board," Akil said.
This saves time at entry points upon arrival, he explained.
McCarthy said the department would fund the start-up costs of the venture, but its running costs could be funded through surcharges on tickets. However, the funding model for South Africa had not been finalised yet, she added.
Akil added: "In certain countries [where APP has already been implemented], the costs are added to the tickets... but the benefits [of] such a system are huge. Every passenger has then been thoroughly checked. If I were a passenger, it would give me a lot of comfort."
Most major airlines in the world are already APP compliant since several big countries, such as Australia and Canada, have already implemented it.
Airlines that are not compliant will not be allowed to fly to South Africa once the system has been implemented, said Akil.
Eventually APP would be used for all ports of entry world-wide.
"There is a vision that eventually, you will be able to tie in with land and sea borders... applying the same security measures across all."
Sapa
