Biometric boarding for Brasilia and Newark airports

The adoption of biometrics by airports continues to develop at pace as the contactless approach is hoped to appeal to travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential time savings per passenger could help reduce crowding in airports caused by the increased document and health pass checks required.

Newark Liberty pilots Easier/Idemia biometric self-boarding

The Port Authority is trialling a biometric self-boarding e-gate at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). If assessed favorably it could be rolled out further. The Port Authority is working with Easier for the hardware, with the software provided by Idemia. The biometric gate, specifically Gate 62 of Terminal B, is for Lufthansa flights and has been integrated with the airline’s departure control system.

Passengers have their photos taken in the airport and these are referenced with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection databases of passport entries. Then when ready to board, a scan of the face is all that is required, rather than having to present ID and boarding pass.

Idemia’s facial recognition algorithm 1:N has maintained top spot on the NIST Face Recognition Vendor Test since March and recently ranked second for passenger identification in an FRVT test focused on ‘Identification for Paperless Travel and Immigration’.

The Easier and Idemia pairing recently had their biometric solution integrated at Los Angeles International (LAX). Seaports in the U.S. are also deploying facial recognition for verifying the identities of disembarking cruise passengers.

Brasilia tests SITA Embarque + Seguro biometric boarding

Brasilia International Airport (BSB) is the sixth airport to test the Brazilian government’s Embarque + Seguro biometric boarding process. According to the government release, the program was developed by Serpro alongside ministries.

Its previous roll out at airports in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro was based on Idemia technology, along with Serpro. For Brasília, SITA has claimed its pride in bringing the technology to passengers, with its branding clearly on display at the gate.

A video showing the biometric boarding process was shared on Twitter by the airport.

The biometric boarding pilots are expected to finish at the end of the year with the hope of reducing aircraft access time by 25 percent. Over 2,500 passengers have volunteered to use the system at the airports with flights for Latam, Gol and Azul airlines.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  Brazil  |  contactless  |  digital identity  |  Easier  |  eGates  |  facial recognition  |  IDEMIA  |  passenger processing  |  SITA