Australia axes painful outgoing passenger card

International airlines have been told that a bane of travellers leaving Australia, the green departure card, will no longer be required from July 1. The decision to axe the card reflects the fact that information such as passenger names, flight numbers, destinations, passports and contact details are all available through the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). Border agencies are also increasingly relying on facial recognition technology and smart gates to screen outbound passengers at international airports. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection confirmed that the cards were due to be binned but there were no obvious details of the change on the department’s website on Wednesday. A department spokesman said the government was focussed on low contact automated border clearance processes and technologies to manage the 50 million travellers expected annually by 2020. “As part of this work, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has been reviewing the use of paper-based passenger cards,’’ he said in an email. “Removing paper-based manual processes is integral to achieving a seamless and automated traveller experience.’ The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia said the move to stop using the cards would improve the operational efficiency at Australia’s international airports and the overall passenger experience. “Improvements in technology should allow a progressive move away from manual/paper processes for international travellers,’’ it said. The cards were also used to collect statistical data on passengers used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and tourism researchers. “Recognising the importance of the data collected on paper-based cards, DIBP has worked closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to identify existing government data sources instead of relying on manual collection by paper-based cards,’’ the department spokesman said.