Imagine boarding a plane without ever having to show your passport, ID, or boarding pass, even once at the airport. By 2025, Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport could become the world’s first paperless airport. The airport is known for its high-tech infrastructure, and was recently praised by billionaire Elon Musk, who said, “America needs to catch up.”
They are currently rolling out the Smart Travel Project, which aims to install biometric sensors at every airport identification checkpoint, from check-in counters to immigration counters, duty-free counters, airline lounges and boarding gates.
In Abu Dhabi, the technology has been used in certain areas of the airport.
In Abu Dhabi, the technology is already in use in certain areas of the airport, particularly on flights operated by partner airline Etihad, but the ambition to expand across the entire passenger flow is groundbreaking.
“We are expanding to nine touchpoints and this will be a world first. There is no need to pre-register, passengers will be automatically identified and authenticated as they move through the airport, significantly speeding up the whole process,” said Andrew Murphy, Chief Information Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports.
Mr Murphy also explained that anyone arriving in the UAE for the first time, whether a resident or a tourist, has their biometric data collected by the UAE’s Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) department. The airport’s system relies on this database to verify passengers as they pass through checkpoints.
“The really unique thing here is that this particular biometric solution works with ICP to use the data to create a seamless passenger experience. And that’s why everyone can use this approach,” Murphy explained.
Many airports around the world are moving towards faster immigration processes using facial recognition technology to ease the pressure from huge passenger traffic.
Thanks to this technology, passengers can save a lot of time when going through the airport. Instead of having to wait in line to check in, passengers can just go through the automatic gates. This is especially useful for large airports like Abu Dhabi, where there are a lot of passengers.
According to an October 2023 survey by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 75% of passengers said they would prefer to use biometric data over paper passports and boarding passes. As a result, other airports around the world are also moving towards reducing paper usage and adopting biometric technology.
Other airports around the world are also moving towards biometric immigration, rather than paper-based procedures. In an October 2023 IATA report, 46% of respondents said they had used the technology at an airport before.
Before Abu Dhabi, Singapore was one of the first countries to deploy this technology at airports. In addition, Hong Kong International Airport (China), Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda (Japan) and Indira Gandhi (India) have applied biometric technology at certain points during the immigration process.
In the United States, Customs and Border Protection has deployed biometric technology at arrivals areas of 96 international airports. At departures, the United States has applied this technology at 53 locations.
