Data rules for Digi Yatra airport biometrics outlined

Details continue to slowly emerge about how India’s Digi Yatra will work, while NEC award wins and a Clear expansion show continuing momentum for airport biometrics. Idemia and others will make their pitch at FTE Global 2021 next week.

The Digi Yatra airport biometric system will remain optional, and sharing any of the biometric data gathered strictly prohibited, according to a Ministry of Aviation official’s statement covered by MediaNama (subscription required and recommended).

In testimony to the Lok Sabha, Aviation Ministry official General (retired) VK Singh reiterated the plan to roll out biometric boarding first at four airports across the country as phase one of the Digi Yatra project. Trials have also been held at Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Passengers’ biometric data will be collected through an app, and deleted 24 hours after flight departure. The security of the system will be tested independently, General Singh said.

The face biometrics algorithms are provided by NEC India.

NEC’s I:Delight, which powers the Star Alliance biometrics platform, has been declared a Platinum award winner for ‘Best Integrated Security Management System’ among the 2021 ASTORS Awards from American Security Today. NEC Corporation of America and NEC National Security Systems also each won ASTORS.

Newark and Kansas City

Biometric expedited security lanes from Clear are now in operation at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal B to help handle the holiday travel surge.

Clear’s biometric lanes were previously launched in Terminal C, and have now reached a total of 109 at 39 airports across the country. The company says the deployment also creates 14 new jobs in the area.

Henderson Engineers is helping to plan and coordinate the installation of biometric hardware at Kansas City International Airport (MCI) to ensure effective integration with other airport systems, according to a new report. Henderson’s role in designing the infrastructure which supports the face biometrics system at MCI is detailed by Passenger Terminal Today.

Biometrics providers at FTE Global

Idemia will attend Future Travel Experience Global, December 7 to 9 2021, to exhibit its ID2Travel end-to-end biometric platform, as well as the company’s biometrics enrollment, MFace and Verified Traveler Mobile Application to potential customers.

SVP of Travel and Transport Lisa Sullivan will discuss ‘seamless travel experiences with heightened trusted identity’ with U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Executive Director of Capability Management and Innovation Melissa Conley during the third day of the event.

The many other biometrics providers participating in FTE Global 2021 include NEC, Paravision and secunet.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  CLEAR  |  Digi Yatra  |  face biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Future Travel Experience Global  |  identity verification  |  India  |  NEC  |  passenger processing