March 11, 2020

Will Biometrics Replace Passports by 2021?

Both airlines and airports are hard at work on projects that will bring facial scans to the mainstream

Will your face soon be your default passport? Close to half of all airline passengers are hoping this will be the case. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is reporting that 45 percent of passengers are eager to get rid of paper passports in favor of biometric identification.

Both airlines and airports are hard at work on projects that will bring facial scans to the mainstream. Progress is being fueled by something called the IATA One ID project. This ambitious plan would push technology that makes it possible for passengers to travel from curbs to gates without ever presenting paper boarding passes or their passport. The biometric system in place would use a single biometric token to identify passengers.

The reality is that most airports and airlines in the world will work on shifting to biometric scans in the near future. However, most airports that are introducing biometric scanning are doing so in conjunction with traditional gates that use standard travel documents to identify passengers. Some companies in the travel sector are already way ahead of the curve when it comes to biometric screenings. For instance, Delta and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently launched a program in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to create the country's first biometric airport terminal. Delta's biometric ID covers passengers from the check-in process all the way through boarding gates. That includes baggage areas and TSA checkpoints. Delta also operates biometric screening in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.

We're also seeing a push toward full biometric screenings coming from companies like Vision-Box. The company has actually developed a biometric walkway that is capable of confirming the identities of passengers as they walk. That means that each passenger can be fully processed without stopping at a gate prior to boarding.

Copyright 2020 GET.com. All rights reserved. From https://news.get.com. By Scott Dylan.

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