Passengers traveling with Cathay Pacific can now participate in a trial of facial recognition self-boarding at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. This trial of the Vision-Box technology is part of the first phase of Seamless Flow, the program that intends to make paperless travel possible in the long term.
After checking in, passengers are invited to take part in the trial and participants are escorted to one of the special registration kiosks. The passport and the boarding pass are scanned, while a high-quality face image is captured to generate the traveler’s single token. This will allow passengers to self-process through a boarding gate without having to show any documents.
At the departure gate, passengers use a dedicated biometric-enabled eGate where they simply have to look at a camera that scans their face. The live photo is automatically compared with the scan that was made at the registration process. When the face is identified, the gate opens and the passenger is boarded on the airline system. This only takes a few seconds.
Wilma van Dijk, Schiphol’s safety and security director, said, “For passengers, the journey from arrival at the airport to boarding becomes easier and more efficient. Now you have to show your passport, your boarding card or both at various checkpoints at the airport, for example, when dropping your luggage, at the entrance to the security check, when passing border control and when boarding. In the future you can pass these control points more smoothly because you are recognized by your face. You can leave your passport and boarding pass in the bag.”
In the coming months, scanning of the face, passport and boarding pass will be experienced during registration and boarding. The next phase will add passport control to the trial.
Miguel Leitmann, CEO at Vision-Box, added, “It’s all about the passenger. The whole idea of Seamless Flow is to modernize the airport landscape to improve the convenience, simplify the processes, propose modern interactions and deliver effective value to passengers. We’re very excited to continue working with our partners in this landmark program, offering Cathay Pacific customers a pioneering seamless travel platform that will absolutely reshape how we travel.”
To bring this program to life, a partnership has been established between the Dutch government, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Cathay Pacific, KLM and Vision-Box. The latter is responsible for the seamless flow technology platform.
Vision-Box will be exhibiting at Passenger Terminal Expo, March 26-28, 2019, in London. And for more on biometrics, don’t miss the Passenger Terminal Conference, where Michael Hardin, director, Policy and Planning – US Customs and Border Protection, will discuss the progress of CBP’s Simplified Travel programme (featuring an automated biometric boarding system), as part of the Aviation Security, Border Control & Facilitation stream, on Wed 27th March, 2019.