China’s air travel industry is investing heavily in AI technology. According to SITA’s latest 2019 China IT Insights report, 88 percent of the country’s airlines and airports plan to have some form of AI program in the development or deployment phase by 2022, with a heavy focus on chatbots and virtual assistants. Roughly half (43…
Iberia Airlines is moving forward with a biometric boarding pilot at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport. Those participating in the pilot will be able to pass through security checkpoints and board their plane with a facial recognition scan instead of a boarding pass and a passport. The pilot will be conducted at Terminal 4, and will…
CLEAR‘s eponymous biometric passenger processing solution has arrived at yet another airport, thanks to a collaboration with United Airlines. Expedited screening lanes are now open at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The lanes are in operation in terminals B and C of the airport, with plans to extend CLEAR to terminal C in…
Biometrics News – Facial Recognition The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be swapping iris recognition for facial recognition in its NEXUS kiosks. The new kiosks will first be deployed at Vancouver International Airport before making their way to other major airports across the country. “This initiative aligns the NEXUS program with international trends on…
Alexandre de Juniac is encouraging the airline industry to leverage modern technology to improve the passenger experience. The Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) placed a strong emphasis on biometric identification and baggage tracking, and One ID and RFID systems in particular. Speaking at the Global Airport and Passenger…
AENA is looking to make its airport operations more efficient with the help of Atos. The two companies have signed a three-year contract worth just under €12 million (€11.8 million, to be precise), with an option to extend for another two years if everything goes well. AENA currently operates 46 airports and 2 heliports in…
The European Union’s border control agency has announced plans to trial biometric passenger screening at the Lisbon Airport, signalling what may become the next major phase in European border control. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency – also known as Frontex – has dubbed its new system “Biometrics on the Move”. It’s designed to…
Vision-Box has extended its partnership with the Australian Department of Home Affairs (DHA), reaching an agreement that will allow the SmartGate Departure Program to continue through 2026. The two organizations first began working together in 2015, when Vision-Box provided DHA with biometric SmartGates to improve the flow of traffic through Australia’s airports. The scope of…
“The CBP’s system is designed to biometrically match the faces of these travelers against the images in their travel documents, allowing the agency to verify their identities quickly and reliably.” US Customs and Border Protection has expanded its use of facial recognition technology to another major US airport, announcing that its now being used to…
The UK’s Gatwick Airport is planning to make biometric boarding permanent following a successful trial with EasyJet. A second self-boarding trial will begin in the next six months, with the technology to then be installed at eight departure gates when the North Terminal’s Pier 6 expansion opens in 2022. The new gates will use facial…
Collins Aerospace’s SelfPass biometric boarding gates will soon be available to all international passengers at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The SelfPass gates use facial recognition technology to verify the identities of travelers, bringing up their flight information and allowing them to board the plane with only a facial recognition scan. “SelfPass takes less than…
“MFace Flex is specifically designed to transform the travel experience by making key travel touch points as frictionless as possible.” – Donnie Scott, Senior Vice President, Public Security for North America, IDEMIA IDEMIA has unveiled its newest high-throughput biometric solution. Dubbed MFace Flex, it revolves around facial recognition. Running through a standard video feed, it’s capable…
“While the initial trials of Panasonic’s biometric eGates were aimed at Japanese citizens, the company says that 123 of the 203 units that will be in operation thanks to this latest order will be used to process foreign nationals.” The Immigration Services Agency of Japan’s Ministry of Justice is expanding the use of biometric eGates…
The Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) in Barbados has installed 32 biometric BorderXpress kiosks, expanding a border control program that began with 16 of the self-service kiosks in 2018. The airport is now operating 48 total kiosks, all of which come courtesy of Innovative Travel Solutions, which is itself a subsidiary of Vancouver International Airport. To…
Secunet has outfitted Lithuania’s Vilnius International Airport with ten biometric e-gates to speed up border crossings. Six of the gates will help with arrivals, while the other four have been allocated to facilitate departures. The e-gates support fingerprint and facial recognition, making Lithuania the first European nation to deploy ABC gates that utilize both modalities.…
A new Visiongain report is predicting that increasing international travel will lead to a thriving airport security market over the course of the next decade. The report pegs the current value of the market at $8.83 billion, and that figure is expected to grow through 2029 as airports work to keep airport passengers safe. Visiongain…
Malaysia may be next in line to get a biometric passenger processing system from SITA, with Malaysia Airports having just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the company. The partnership took shape around the 21st anniversary of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, during which the country’s Prime Minister toured the main terminal and saw a…
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added five new airlines to the PreCheck expedited screening program. PreCheck passengers flying with Austrian Airlines, Swoop, PAL Express, VivaAerobus, and Interjet will now be able to move through the airport without removing their shoes or taking out their laptops. The TSA’s PreCheck program allows eligible passengers to register…
CLEAR is teaming up with United Airlines to promote biometric screening technology at airports in the United States. In addition to making an equity investment in the company, United will deploy CLEAR’s tech at its Newark Liberty International and Houston George Bush Intercontinental airport hubs, and will support the company’s efforts to introduce CLEAR lanes…