The successful pilot at Ljubljana airport saw Amadeus take another step towards the creation of a common, centralised industry platform for biometrics. Working with home carrier Adria Airways and LOT Polish Airlines, 175 participating passengers were successfully boarded in record time.
Passengers enrolled using an Amadeus smartphone app that captured a ‘selfie’ alongside their passport photo and boarding pass, which were all stored securely on a remote server. A photo of the passenger was then captured at the boarding gate and matched against those stored on the server to validate the passenger’s identity and flight status. A successful match was conveyed to the Departure Control System and the passenger was able to board smoothly. All biometric data was then deleted within 48 hours, ensuring GDPR compliance.
Average boarding times reduced by approximately 75%, dropping to just two seconds from the typical five to ten seconds per passenger. The new technology promises to enhance the passenger experience by making boarding faster, simpler and more secure. This is important as global passenger traffic continues to grow, which is likely to result in increasingly lengthy queues at airports.
Misel Mencinger, Ground Operations at Adria Airways, said: “We are very encouraged by the results of the pilot with high levels of passenger acceptance and a significant reduction in average boarding times. Biometrics offers the industry another technological leap that will improve how people travel.”
Bostjan Rakovec, Head of IT, Fraport Slovenija, said: “Innovation is our focus and biometrics is an area we feel Ljubljana can stand-out on by helping airlines to improve decades-old processes.”
Bruno Spada, Executive Vice President Airport IT at Amadeus, said the pilot was an important milestone in finding a biometrics solution for the industry where travellers only need to enroll once. “Our solution is in line with IATA’s One ID vision meaning it works across all participating airports and airlines so passengers can arrive at the airport ready to travel.”
He continued: “Our approach addresses the fundamental problem of biometrics in airports today: the need for passengers to register at each airport separately. With a centrally hosted solution that sits between airports, airlines and passengers, we will deliver a common standard approach that works for everyone. Importantly, this means biometrics can be rolled out and scaled up quickly in areas such as check-in, security and boarding.”
The pilot at Ljubljana airport focused specifically on improving how passengers board the aircraft although the platform is designed to work across all ID verification pain points at the airport, including check-in, security, lounge access and boarding.
