The US government is shelving plans to collect information on air travelers from commercial databases to identify potential terrorists on passenger lists, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal said the decision comes as a group of privacy experts is preparing a report highly critical of the Secure Flight program, the Transportation Security Administration's effort to take over passenger screening from the airlines.

The TSA has considered using commercial data for Secure Flight but came under criticism from privacy advocates, the Government Accountability Office and others. In response, the agency has decided to launch the program without commercial data, the Journal quoted TSA chief Kip Hawley as saying.

"There's no question it would be helpful but it brings with it a lot of privacy concerns," Hawley told the newspaper.

Secure Flight is now expected to launch by early next year, according to one person interested in the program who was briefed by a top TSA official.

According to this account, the Journal said regulations governing it will be issued in the next few weeks, with the program set to begin with at least a handful of airlines as early as November or, if it can't get off the ground before Thanksgiving, in early 2006.