TSA targets 400 US airports for biometrics rollout

America’s network of airport biometric systems now includes hundreds of airports, but is slated to reach hundreds more in the years ahead.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deployed its Biometric Facial Comparison system to 238 airports, including all 14 CBP Preclearance and 49 international departure locations. A list of airports provided by CBP shows that 14 of the 238 airports are outside of the country.

CBP says more airport partners are joining its Biometric Exit program every month, and passenger responses have “been overwhelmingly positive.”

The Transportation Security Administration, meanwhile, has now deployed second-generation Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) scanners from Idemia I&S with face biometrics to “nearly 84 airports” across the country. TSA plans to bring CAT-2s to more than 400 U.S. airports in the years ahead.

The figures are included in a fact sheet prepared by the TSA as part of its public awareness drive.

Several U.S. congressional representatives, led by Senator Jeff Merkley, oppose the rollout, arguing that because TSA’s previous scanners could detect fraudulent identification, stronger checks that the person matches the document need to be proven necessary.

Of course, Congress mandated REAL ID specifications for the ID credentials Americans use to board planes 20 years ago to ensure their authenticity could be reliably confirmed, and those standards are yet to be met by many states. The standard’s new latest deadline is May 7, 2025.

Even in states that do have REAL ID-compliant IDs, many people do not yet have the updated version. NBC affiliate WLWT5 reports that only about half of Ohioans have REAL IDs. In Indiana, 77 percent do. In Kentucky, only 32 percent.

As Wired notes, the physical passport is seen by many aviation and digital ID insiders as on its way out, though some concerns, most notably around transparency, will have to be addressed if systems based on digital credentials and face biometrics are to gain widespread public trust.

Digi Yatra reaches 9M active users

That trend is seen around the world. India’s Digi Yatra is up to 9 million active users, with 30,000 new downloads a day, according to The Tribune. The biometric airport clearance system has been used for 42 million flights so far.

In an attempt to increase public trust, Digi Yatra launched a d-KYC (Don’t Know Your Customer) campaign in October, highlighting the storage of user data on their mobile device, rather than a centralized database.

Digi Yatra Foundation CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi says the system will be implemented at four more airports in the first few months of 2025, and support for all 22 of India’s official languages is planned for March, followed by an international pilot in June. SITA signed up to implement Digi Yatra at 9 Indian airports in September.

Khadakbhavi also highlighted the d-KYC campaign and the size of India’s aviation market, which includes 138 airports, in an editorial for International Airport Review last week.

Rollouts in Israel and Jamaica

Biometric screening stations have also been introduced at Haifa International Airport in Israel as it reopens from prolonged closure due to war, according to India’s ANI. The biometric system is one of several upgrades completed during the period when the airport was closed.

At Sangster International in Jamaica, biometric gates for check-ins and flight boarding are rolling out to deliver a more seamless travel experience, The Jamaica Gleaner reports.

Passengers can enroll for biometric processing through their mobile device or self-service kiosks.

Sangster already had six biometric gates when the country’s Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) contracted a new biometric border management system earlier this year.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometrics  |  CBP  |  Credential Authentication Technology (CAT)  |  face biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Israel  |  Jamaica  |  Real ID  |  TSA  |  United States