APIS (Advance Passenger Information System) is a system that sends advanced passenger and crew information about those onboard an aircraft. Some countries require this message to be sent before the departure of the flight. Contact the appropriate customs and border officials to confirm if APIS is required for flights into the country your airline is arriving at/departing from.
Different formats are used for APIS. There are many country formats currently supported by NAVBLUE, such as Canada, USA, Mexico, Denmark, China, Bulgaria, France, and Spain.
User rights
To give editing permissions for APIS messages, there is a user right called APIS. To select this, go to User Groups > Select the user group to add permissions to > and click to allow specific permissions as displayed in the screenshot below:
In the above example, we have selected editing, deletion, and reading permissions for the users within the selected user group. If you choose to change the permissions on a specific date, you can select the Valid From date to activate the permissions.
The status and missing data information are displayed in APIS Status Dialogue.
Sleipner handles the message generation / Master Crew List update automatically and will send a new message any time that the APIS information changes. Examples of when an APIS message is regenerated and resent includes:
- a crew member is added or removed from a flight
- a jumpseater has been assigned
- if crew members' address or personal information are changed.
Template and set up data for the creation and sending of MCL and FCM data associated with APIS transmissions.
This window displays the current list of defined APIS TEMPLATE types.
To locate an existing APIS TEMPLATE, type enter the name (or partial name) in the dialogue box then select Search. All matching results will be displayed.
Creating a new APIS TEMPLATE type
Click the NEW button to create a new APIS template. The following window is displayed:
Name: | Mandatory, max. 100 characters. |
Format: | Plain Text, USA, UK, Canada, Cuba, China, Mexico, Denmark, Italy, Free text, or APPv4, as appropriate to the recipient of the APIS messages. |
Country: | Name of the country that will be the recipient of the email messages. |
Activity filter: | Aircraft filter that selects the relevant flight legs for the APIS messages. |
Cargo filter: | If cargo flights are to be included in the APIS transmissions, select the aircraft filter that selects cargo flights. |
Pre Departure: | Specify the value in minutes that an FCM message should be sent before the departure of a flight. |
Pre Departure 2: | Resend the FCM x mins before departure (needed for Cuba). |
Post Departure: | Specify the value in minutes that an FCM message should be sent after the departure of a flight if any amendments have been made. |
Message size: | The maximum number of characters that may be included in a single message (relates to SITA messages only). |
Cancel Filter: | Filter that removes canceled flights. |
Contact: | The name of the person in the airline who is designated as the point of contact. |
Phone: | The telephone number of the person in the airline who is designated as the point of contact. |
Fax: | Fax number of the person in the airline who is designated as the nominated individual. |
Email: | The email address of the person in the airline who is designated as the nominated individual. |
UNBSender: | Mandatory Interchange header. The name of the airline sending the APIS messages. |
Code: | Two-letter IATA code of the airline sending the APIS message. |
UNB Recipient: | SITA address of the authority or agency receiving the APIS messages (relates to APIS messages sent via SITA only. |
Code: | SITA priority code to be used in the sending of the message (relates to APIS messages sent via SITA only. |
UNGSender: | Functional Group header (conditional). The UNG segments are used only if the transmission carries several groups of messages of different types. EDItEUR strongly recommends that transmission should be limited to carrying only one group of messages of a single type. The UNG segments are not, therefore, used in EDItEUR practice. |
Code: | Two-letter IATA code of the airline sending the APIS message. |
UNG Recipient: | SITA address of the authority or agency receiving the APIS messages (relates to APIS messages sent via SITA only). |
UNHSender: | Message header. This is mandatory for messages to Italy. |
Human Resource filter: | The filter name that includes crew to be included in the MCL and FCM messages. |
Passport: | The document name is the crew member's passport to be used for the APIS country concerned. |
License: | The document name is the crew member's license to be used for the APIS country concerned. |
Allow empty Expiry: | If the Pilot license is checked, you have access to define countries that allow License data without an expiry date. |
Address: | The Address Type name specifies the crew member's place of residence to be used for the APIS country concerned. |
Roster Designator for not active crew | Crew with the selected Roster designator will be ignored when sending FCM. |
CR1 filter: | The name of the HR Filter that specifies cockpit crew. |
CR2 filter: | The HR Filter that specifies cabin crew. |
CR3 filter: | The HR Filter that specifies instructors (if required). |
CR4 filter: | The HR Filter that specifies cargo non-cockpit crew. |
CR5 filter: | The HR Filter that specifies pilots who are deadheading. |
Active: | Select the Active checkbox if the APIS TEMPLATE type is to be used. |
Use Master Crew List: | Send MCL master crew list. The master crew list is normally sent the day before. |
Pilot license: | Check the box if pilot license information is required to be sent. |
Include Address: | Check the box if address information is required to be sent. |
Include Crew Status: | Check the box if the crew status is required to be indicated. |
Attach: | If you send APIS by email and want the message to go in an attachment and not in the actual email body. |
Sender/Recipient code: | This control is if you include the two-letter airline code. |
Middle Name without separator: | First name and middle name will not be separated. |
Once the parameters are defined, select the SAVE button, and the information is committed to the database, and the new entry will appear in the existing list of items. To discard a new item prior to saving, select the Cancel button and the information will be removed and the window closed.
Individual APIS Message
It is possible to create an individual APIS message. When you select "Free Text", a new dialog will open.
You can configure the HEADER, CREW, and FOOTER sections.
Check the elements you want to include in the message. You can use the default template or you can create your own template in the Integration Factory.
Each segment is one line in the message.
Header Configuration
The header can contain one of the following segments:
- UNA
- UNB
- UNG
- UNH
- BGM
- RFF
- NAD
- COM
- TDT
- LOC1
- DTM1
- LOC2
- DTM2.
Crew Configuration
Crew data - repeatable for each crew member; containing segments:
- NAD
- ATT
- DTM
- LOC1
- LOC2
- LOC3
- LOC4
- LOC5
- EMP
- NAT
- DOCP
- DTMP
- LOCP
- DOCL
- DMTL
- LOCL.
Footer Configuration
Footer - one footer containing segments:
- CNT
- UNT
- UNE
- UNZ.
Preview
Click the Preview button to see the output.
Editing an existing APIS TEMPLATE type
Once an APIS TEMPLATE type is added to the list, it can be amended using the following procedure.
Indicate the APIS TEMPLATE type(s) to be amended by selecting the checkbox to the left of the APIS TEMPLATE type name and selecting the Edit button. The APIS TEMPLATE type details will appear in a new window and can be edited as required. If more than one APIS TEMPLATE type is selected, each item will appear in a separate window and can be edited in turn. Once the required amendments have been made, click the Save button to commit the changes to the database.
Copying an existing APIS TEMPLATE type
An APIS TEMPLATE type can be copied to create a new APIS TEMPLATE type using the following procedure.
Indicate the APIS TEMPLATE type that is to be copied by selecting the checkbox to the left of the document name and clicking the Copy button. The EDIT dialogue window is displayed and the new parameters can be entered. Once the parameters have been defined, click the Save button to commit the changes to the database type. The changes can be discarded by clicking the Cancel button and the parameters will not be committed to the database type.
Deleting an existing APIS TEMPLATE type
APIS TEMPLATE types that are no longer required can be deleted using the following procedure.
Indicate the APIS TEMPLATE type that is to be copied by selecting the checkbox to the left of the document name and clicking the Delete button. The APIS TEMPLATE type is removed from the database type and is no longer visible in the list of available types.