By recognizing people based on distinctive physical or behavioral characteristics, new technology will speed up, ease, and streamline passenger journeys.To further simplify passenger clearance, Dubai is developing a scheme where a single biometric will be used for check-in, immigration, and boarding the aircraft.
The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) officials stated during a press conference on Tuesday that Dubai International Airport would fully implement biometric technology in the future to identify people based on their distinctive physical or behavioral characteristics.
Passengers will have a simple and seamless experience thanks to this single biometric usage, which will boost the number of airport visitors and do away with the necessity for immigration counters.
“We have been working on this one biometric project for two years. The idea behind this is to make passenger journey faster, easier and seamless using one biometric. For example, passengers coming for check-in will use the same biometrics in immigration, lounge and boarding the aircraft. We call it a smart journey. In the future, we may not see classic counters what we see now,” said Major General Obaid bin Suroor, deputy director-general of GDRFA.
In February 2021, Khaleej Times was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the new contactless smart travel system that enabled passengers to travel without using their identification papers. Major General Obaid said this new technology will be rolled out “very soon.”
The next International Conference on Policymaking: The Future of Ports was announced during a press conference that Major General Obaid was speaking at. Participants from Asia, Europe, the US, and the UAE will attend the two-day forum, which is scheduled to start on September 19 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai.
37% passengers using smart gates
Major General Talal Al Shangeti, assistant director-general of the Airport Passport Sector at GDRFA, said they’re working with all stakeholders to improve services as Dubai International Airport is one of the best in service.
He said iris and facial biometrics are the future for a seamless journey of passengers, starting from checking, immigration, security and final boarding to aircraft.
More than 42 million passengers, including transit, used airports and immigration borders, and 37 per cent of them were using smart gates during the January-June period.
“Our target is to achieve 80 per cent of people using smart gates and other technologies. We hope to achieve this target in a couple of years. We believe Dubai airport will completely deploy biometric technology,” said Major General Talal.
Currently, there are 120 smart gates operational at Dubai International, and the aim is to reach 150 by the end of this year or early next year, he added.
