CBP to Screen Orlando Airport Travelers Using Mobile Face Scanners

Orlando International Airport is planning to use mobile technology to speed up the screening process for international arrivals. The new program will debut at Orlando’s new Terminal C, which is slated to open on September 19.

In practice, the new screening system will replace fixed customs booths with handheld biometric devices. Those devices will be outfitted with facial recognition technology, so US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents will be able to patrol the Federal Inspection Service area with those devices to process passengers without forcing them to line up at a predetermined checkpoint.

According to Orlando officials, the new system will be able to process as many as 2,000 passengers on an hourly basis. In doing so, it should also deliver a smoother passenger experience. Arriving passengers will be able to pick up their luggage before heading to customs, and pass right through the airport and onto local transit with as few stops as possible.

In that regard, Orlando will be one of only a handful of US airports (alongside Seattle) that allow passengers to grab their bags before their immigration screening. Terminal C will be able to handle as many as 20 airplanes at 15 gates, and will provide service for British Airways, Aer Lingus, Icelandair, Emirates, and Lufthansa, amongst other airlines.

The airport is planning to expand Terminal C with a thoroughfare dubbed “The Boulevard” in 2023. That Boulevard will lead directly to a station where travelers can board trains for other Florida destinations. Terminal C itself is a $2.75 billion project that is expected to field 12 million passengers every year, raising the airport’s total capacity to 60 million people annually.

Orlando International has consistently been at the forefront of digital transformation in the travel industry. Administrators introduced facial recognition all the way back in 2015, and more recently installed a lidar-based crowd monitoring system from The Indoor Lab.

Source: TTG Media

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July 20, 2022 – by Eric Weiss