Biometrics are radically transforming the passenger experience in airports around the world. This technology, combined with new self-service solutions, now offers the means to address today's security challenges, the search for enhanced quality of service, while catering for the sustained growth in passenger numbers.

The challenges facing air passenger travel today

Over the last two decades, profound political and economic upheavals in the region and beyond have led to a change in air travel practices. Airports are now taking into account increasingly stringent security demands and stricter passenger controls.

At another level, air transport is a key facilitating factor for the economy. Business and tourist travel are a source of wealth and job creation. The travel sector (airports, airlines, national and international authorities, the security industry) find themselves confronted with decisive requirements: to provide fluidity for "reliable" passengers, limit waiting times and passenger delays, reinforce controls to counter potential threats, all of this while containing costs.

 

Why biometrics is so closely related to traveller identity

The statistics speak for themselves: according to the International Air Transport Association, there will be nearly four billion air passengers in 2017 and this number is set to double over the next 20 years. The Iata also states that Middle East air passenger traffic has increased 9.1 per cent to 206.1 million passengers in 2016.

In a similar way as to bankers are required by regulatory frameworks to know their customers better (KYC - know your customer), the travel industry is now discovering the tremendous potential of biometrics, which goes far beyond strictly security-related applications, dipping into creating a 360-degree view of each traveller, allowing them to KYC.

Let's leave aside the very legitimate concerns around identity fraud and terrorism for a moment, and focus on the traveller experience, which takes central stage in the new world of the Internet of Things and smart cities today. The idea is for the travellers to be able to authenticate themselves once and for all, either on their mobile device or at an airport kiosk, and generate a sole secure identity that will be used throughout the whole journey.

 

The shape of travel to come: A full end-to-end self-service experience thanks to biometrics

Over the past 15 years, airports and airlines have very widely opted for the deployment of automatic systems with the aim of freeing up bottlenecks in passenger flows - which can be a very problematic issue at peak times - by simplifying the check-in process.

The UAE is already in the forefront of these implementations; think how this is going to play an instrumental part, as Dubai prepares to host the next Expo in 2020 and expecting millions of travellers passing through the airport on a daily basis.

These systems, in particular automatic check-in kiosks or automated bag drop-off points have revolutionised the check-in process, allowing travellers to save time by checking in themselves, thus reducing waiting times by 30 per cent compared to traditional check-in desks . Studies show that the more passengers have access to the use of technology, the higher the rate of satisfaction is, thus allowing the traveller experience at the airport to be improved.

Biometrics play a key role, as taking these automated services far beyond. A unique profile can be created at the beginning of the journey, face or fingerprint will be scanned, and used as the identity token for verification for the rest of the journey. Thanks to biometrics, everyone effectively carries their own means of authorisation.

 

The biometric experience: What are the expectations?

All these initiatives reflect the current trend towards greater automation of control procedures. The modern-day traveller in fact spends a lot of time surfing the web, sending messages, updating on the latest news, etc. So booking a flight, checking in, boarding, smiling at the camera on their phone to access it, and so on, look like a logical extension of lifestyle habits initiated by all these new technologies.

With 1,000 million electronic passports now in service worldwide, which means one billion passport photos accessible by face recognition systems, the e-gates mentioned above represent the most promising biometric solution, and they are already a reality in an increasing number of airports. Recent studies have confirmed time savings of the order of 80 per cent thanks to automated check-in and security procedures.

Ultimately, these innovations will lead to increased efficiency, less waiting time for passengers and allow airport and airline staff to focus on other tasks such as the smooth and secure functioning of the service. In addition to this, travellers being cleared fast from security check will be more likely to enjoy their journey more and why not do some extra shopping in the spend the duty free shopping area. The future is here.

The writer is business development manager for government programmes in the Middle East at Gemalto. Views expressed are her own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy