NEC supplying biometric walkthrough gates for Japanese airports

Biometric walkthrough gates from NEC are coming to three of Japan’s largest airports to streamline airport arrivals.

The country’s Immigration Services Agency (ISA) purchased the walkthrough gates to be installed, along with Immigration & Customs Declaration Kiosks, at Terminal 3 of both Haneda and Narita International Airports and Kansai International Airport Terminal 1. Electronic customs procedure gates, which also use face biometrics, are also being updated at Kansai International.

The walkthrough gates feature NEC’s Bio-IDiom Edge Software, and the company emphasizes its leading accuracy results in NIST testing.

Japan is keen to make airport processes seamless and efficient as it works towards a goal of welcoming 60 million foreign visitors by 2030 and plans for Expo 2025 Osaka.  Osaka is in Kansai region.

The installations are expected to be complete at all three airports by April 11.

NEC’s face biometrics are also being built into self-driving busses operated by Japan Airlines Co., and were used in an IATA biometric PoC for different digital wallets and credentials that involved Narita airport towards the end of 2024.

Border biometrics also expanding in South Asia

The rollout of biometrics at Vietnam’s airports is in full swing, with an automated immigration control system at Da Nang International Airport and the Ministry of Construction announcing timelines for the next two airports.

Vision-Box was selected by Vietnam’s government to supply gates with fingerprint and face biometrics at five airports in 2023, and a photo of a person using one of the company’s Seamless Gates is included in the announcement from Da Nang International.

Biometrics are also being integrated with the national digital ID, VNeID, with a full biometric verification process available to passengers carrying an ID card with an electronic chip, government news agency VNA reports.

The biometric systems are expected to be deployed at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat and Hanoi’s Noi Bai by June and September, respectively.

Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has also begun the process of acquiring and installing biometrics at Phu Bai, Cat Bi, Dien Bien, and Long Thanh airports. Eventually, the system will cover check-in counters, security checkpoints and boarding gates.

Similar biometric passenger management processes are also expanding at one of South Asia’s largest sea border crossings with Idemia technology.

Eight new immigration clearance lanes have been added at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to speed up departures, The Straits Times reports.

Fifteen new self check-in kiosks are expected to be in place by the end of 2025, and terminal operator Singapore Cruise Centre expects them to handle as many as 70 percent of passengers.

The immigration process can be completed by Singapore residents and foreigners using their face and iris biometrics instead of passports. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) advises travellers to carry their passports anyway, but the passport-free process cuts clearance time by 60 percent to approximately 10 seconds. The ICA says that 47 million travellers have cleared immigration without using a passport, as of January 31.

The ICA announced plans for a “new clearance concept” for all border crossings in Singapore featuring Idemia biometrics at the beginning of 2024.

The terminal’s capacity has also been increased with extra arrivals and more space.

Article Topics

ABC gates  |  biometrics  |  border security  |  face biometrics  |  IDEMIA  |  iris biometrics  |  NEC  |  passenger processing  |  Vision-Box