Morpho to provide automated passenger control gates for French airport

Morpho (Safran) announced it has signed an agreement to provide the Marseille Provence airport (AMP) with a new-generation of PARAFE 2 automated passenger control gates, making it Morpho’s first delivery of its latest APC solution to a French airport.

The system currently uses fingerprint recognition technology, but will also feature facial recognition capability once it is authorized by French legislation.

Over the past six years, Morpho has delivered 41 first-generation automated gates to French airports, including four in Marseille.

The company has also deployed PARAFE systems at Paris-based airports, Charles De Gaulle and Orly, to check travellers’ passports when arriving or departing the country.

The PARAFE 2 system, which has been approved by the French Ministry of the Interior, can be used by all individuals over the age of 18 travelling with an EU or Swiss passport once they have completed registration with the French border police.

Registration for the new system, which is free and takes only a few minutes, can be done at any airport equipped with PARAFE automated gates.

Since May 2012, any individuals who have been issued biometric French passports after July 2009 have been able to use PARAFE gates without prior registration because they can be identified via the fingerprints that are already stored in the chip of their passports.

There have already been more than 200,000 passengers who have registered for the program, which enables a passenger to complete border check in 20 seconds.

Additionally, the program has administered more than 5 million checks to date, which is an average of 35,000 controls per week.

“Morpho is very proud to deploy its latest generation of automated border control gates at Marseille Provence airport,” said Samuel Fringant EVP of Morpho’s Security division. “These modular systems feature improved ergonomics, a new design and will also be able to accommodate multi-biometric technologies (fingerprint and face recognition). These gates combine superior security with greater comfort of use for passengers.”

Article Topics

airport biometrics  |  APC kiosk  |  biometrics  |  eGates  |  ePassports  |  France  |  morpho