AST June 2018 Magazine Volume 24 | Page 43

Volume 24 June 2018 Edition Biometrics are used to recognize and verify perience, while demonstrating how airlines someone’s identity by analyzing their finger- and government border agencies can work prints, voice, face, iris or hand geometry signa- together to enhance security. tures. SITA is also working with Orlando Airport on Confidence in the technology is re- a similar trial with British Airways using bio- flected in a global market growing metric eGates. from US$ 3.24bn in 2016 to an ex- In February this year it was announced that pected US$ 12.22bn by 2023. SITA’s work with JetBlue and CBP had won the respected Air Transport World Aviation JetBlue was the first US airline to use facial Technology Achievement Award for 2018. recognition biometric technology to board passengers in a single step without the passenger needing to show either their boarding pass or passport. SITA Facial Scanner Technology Working with JetBlue and CBP at Bos- ton’s Logan International Airport, SITA demonstrated that biometric tech- nology can reduce friction points in the airport experience – including at boarding, where integrating checks with government systems is one of the hardest challenges to solve. The technology eliminates any boarding pass scanning and pass- port checks. Passengers just need to look into the camera for a quick photo, and they are on their way. The integration of the airline and gov- ernment systems by SITA showed how passengers can enjoy a seamless ex- 41