Every time you board a plane you leave a digital breadcrumb trail: who you are, where you sit, how you paid, who you travel with, where you stayed last night. This record – called a Passenger Name Record (PNR) – is gold dust for security analysts who hunt suspicious travel patterns. Yet real PNRs are […]

Every year, billions of people board flights. Each reservation leaves a digital footprint—names, travel dates, seat numbers, payment details—collectively called a Passenger Name Record (PNR). After the 9/11 attacks, security services worldwide realised that, if pooled and analysed, these records could reveal hidden plots before anyone reaches the airport. The European Union therefore passed the […]

TENACITy: Pioneering Ethical and Intelligent Travel Security in Europe Celebrating Innovation, Collaboration and Impact As TENACITy concludes its three-year journey under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, the project stands as a testament to what collaboration, trust, and innovation can achieve in shaping a safer and more connected Europe. From its launch in 2022 to the […]

1. The privacy-versus-security headache Every year Europe’s Passenger Information Units (PIUs) collect hundreds of millions of booking records—names, seats, bag weights, payment slips—known as Passenger Name Records (PNRs).The data are vital for spotting drug mules, trafficking routes or terror suspects, yet they are also deeply personal. EU law therefore demands: Traditional file exchanges or e-mail […]

Globalization has led to a growing interconnection between countries in terms of transport supply chains and movement of people. Although providing relevant opportunities for both EU companies and citizens, such interconnection also poses serious risks in terms of security of external and internal EU borders. EU Border Guards agencies and Law Enforcement Agencies continuously screen […]

Migrant smuggling is the process of facilitating the unlawful entry, transit or residence of an individual in a country.[1] It is a market in which the commodity traded is the assisted illegal entry into a country for a profit.[2] Migrants constitute the demand-side of the market as they are willing to buy a service, that […]

Exploiting travel intelligence for security brings a broad range of different professional disciplines closer together, transferring knowledge between many competences: Border control including Entry Exit System (EES), European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) & Advance Passenger Information (API); Visa/migration authorities; Police cooperation; Counterterrorism/Internal Security; Criminal investigation, Passenger Information Units (PIUs); Customs; Carriers and airlines; […]