Biometric and contactless technology is increasingly permeating the airport passenger experience. For example, SITA, a technology provider for the air transport industry, recently announced the most extensive deployment of its Smart Path biometric system to date, with the roll-out of an entirely contactless experience for passengers traveling through Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA).
The company says that BCIA has automated the entire passenger journey using its technology – from check-in and bag drop through to immigration, security and finally boarding. Passengers need to enroll only once during check-in, then complete a potentially seamless journey through the airport enabled by facial recognition. SITA says that the improved processing efficiency of its system means shorter queuing time and more social distancing for all passengers. For example, the company claims that its system has already proved that it can significantly speed up passenger movement, processing more than 400 passengers boarding an Airbus A380 in less than 20 minutes.
The deployment of the system at BCIA included the implementation of more than 600 biometric checkpoints through the airport – including 250 lanes of automatic gates, 80 kiosks and 30 self-bag-drop stations – which will process passengers from international flights.
Sumesh Patel, SITA’s president of Asia-Pacific, commented, “Automation is more important than ever in this Covid-19 environment to better enable social distancing and passenger flow without compromising processing times. The BCIA implementation is our most comprehensive deployment of next-generation technology to date and signposts growing interest from the market to automate and optimize airport operations through smart technology.
“With duty-free shopping now also optimized by SITA Smart Path, we’re beginning to uncover the full potential of biometrics to boost passenger safety, convenience and confidence, in turn helping the air transport industry to recover and evolve.”