Biometrics to transform air travel and passenger experience

Biometrics is in the process of radically transforming the passenger experience at airports, making it not only quicker but also more secure and much less stressful.
In this study, we will look into the following questions:

What are the challenges that air passenger travel faces today? Why is biometrics so closely related to identity?
What type of biometrics is currently the most effective way of identifying passengers? What is the future of biometrics in travel?

We will explain how biometrics - and face recognition in particular – can be combined with new self-service solutions to help meet security challenges, quality of service and the sustained growth in air passenger numbers.
 

Ever-increasing passenger flows

Over the last two decades, profound political and economic upheavals have changed air travel practices.

The long-planned Schengen agreements (1995), followed by the enlargement of the EU (May 2004), intended to promote fluidity within the Union, now have to consider increasingly stringent security demands.
The 9/11 attacks, which took place in New York in 2001, marked the start of a long series of malicious acts that have led to a need for stricter passenger controls.
 
For their part, international organizations (IATA, ACI, ICAO), bringing together government and industry bodies, meet regularly to improve standards and control procedures.
But the directives put forward by several countries in the field of travel data (Advance Passenger Information – API, and Passenger Name Records – PNR) will only be effective if it is possible to identify suspicious persons in airports.

Following the COVID pandemic, 2023 is expected to see passenger traffic reaching 92% of the 2019 levels since, despite macroeconomic headwinds, traveller sentiment remains strong. The re-opening of China will also support the ongoing recovery, and global traffic should meet pre-COVID levels by 2024.

Looking forward, the demand for air travel is expected to double by 2040, growing at an annual average rate of
3.4%. Origin-destination passengers are projected to increase from around 4 billion in 2019 to just over 8 billion at the end of the forecast horizon.
 

Passengers want technology to make travel simpler.

The air travel sector (airports, airlines, national and international authorities, the security industry) find themselves confronted with a trio of requirements:

•    to provide fluidity
•    while improving passengers and their data secured
•    and keeping costs under control

We are taking a major step forward by enabling passengers to prove their admissibility to their airline before they get to the airport. The recent IATA Global Passenger survey found that 83% of travellers are willing to share immigration information for expedited processing, and 75% want to use biometric data instead of passport and boarding passes.
 

Face recognition on the front line 

The statistics speak for themselves: there will be nearly 4 billion air passengers in 2017, which is set to double over the next twenty years.

 Travellers in a hurry – or even stressed – are more interested in making purchases in the duty-free shops than waiting to drop off their bags or remove their shoes and belts when going through security.

Biometrics will radically change this experience, as described by Bloomberg in its July 2017 forward-looking article "The Airports of the Future are Here".

Driven by the promise of the IATA OneID initiative concept, passengers see technology as key to improving the convenience of airport processes. They want to arrive at the airport ready to fly, get through the airport at both ends of their journey more quickly using biometrics and know where their baggage is at all times.

The technology exists to support this ideal experience. And as the need to reassure passengers that the data needed to support such an experience will be safely kept, we recently launched Fly to Gate, a passenger-centric biometric system.

The concept is simple: travellers authenticate themselves once and for all on their mobile devices well before departure or at a terminal or the desk upon arrival at the airport.
After that, no need for a passport or boarding pass!

The passenger's facial biometry is then used to validate the successive steps: check-in, baggage drop, security check, boarding, etc... it is even possible to imagine a way of paying for your duty-free shopping or a snack by merely looking at a camera!

But rest assured, a strict legal framework is already in place to protect biometric data.
 

Biometric data and passenger travel

No more placing fingers in readers as with the older-generation gates; smile at your laptop or check-in terminal! This unique biometric identifier will stay with you until your departure, with no infringement of the regulatory framework.

In Europe, the Directive on biometric data protection strictly regulates these practices. Any investigations into the passenger's private life or business travel habits are thus quite out of the question, and any such invasions of privacy carry very severe penalties.

The biometric data is erased as soon as the flight departs or, in some cases, upon completion of the return flight. It is a common reference point for the different checks and controls.

​​

Biometrics: Key for passenger authentication

Technological progress has been made in biometrics since its early beginnings when it was essentially linked to the field of criminal investigation.
Anthropometry today constitutes the promising field for authenticating a person: fingers, hand geometry, eye-iris and retina-vein network, voice, facial shape, etc.
Every individual has a sum of such distinguishing characteristics, behavioural features or physical metrics.

Authentication on the fly

The aim is to move from an intrusive form of biometry - which mandates the individual to temporarily freeze and initiate contact- to a more flexible biometry that authenticates on the fly.

Of course, biological analyses, such as DNA, are reliable and non-contestable, but the "proportionality" principle of the Directive on Privacy restricts their use to the judicial domain.

And although very promising, behavioural analysis is still in its infancy.
 
The gestural features of a signature or the driving of a vehicle indeed characterize an individual unambiguously. Still, their implementation is problematic in mobility, such as travel, involving security checks or identity controls.
 

​

Biometrics for identification and authentication

Identification consists of presenting oneself, as in the real world, physically or else based on a document confirming one's civil status.
The recipient may store this information by taking a photograph or storing it in a database if permitted by law.

Authentication calls for a more sophisticated approach. The person is asked to prove that s/he is the person s/he claims. So this involves actuating an element of proof, the simplest being a PIN code, as when withdrawing cash from an ATM.

But, if the context warrants it, biometrics is an indisputable means of confirming the resemblance between the applicant and a reference stored locally or remotely.

This is the case with "access control", which manages permissions to access industrial sites or restricted zones of airports, for instance.
It is also the procedure implemented by the biometric border control gates (PARAFE smart gates), for which Thales
- in partnership with IER - Paris Airports has awarded the contract following a competitive bidding procedure.
 

No biometric central database

The authorities in charge of protecting privacy (such as the CNIL in France) favour this method which avoids managing centralized.

This is the approach adopted by the biometric border control gates: the traveller is authenticated with their passport. Should the precious open-sesame - badge, passport, card - be lost or stolen, the applicant can no longer authenticate him or herself.

In biometric jargon, an opposition is drawn between 1:1 and 1:N authentication, the latter comparing the print - face, finger, eye - with a reference stored in a local or remote database. This is the case of the Schengen Visa Information System (VIS), which manages several million biometric prints for visitors subject to visa requirements upon arrival in the European Union.
 

Future of biometrics and travel: Know Your Passenger

Similarly to bankers required by the regulatory framework to know their customers better (KYC – Know Your Customer), airport service providers are now discovering the tremendous potential of biometrics, which goes far beyond strictly security-related applications.

Let's leave aside the legitimate concerns around identity fraud and terrorism for a moment, and focus on the traveller, a central piece in the puzzle of our brave new world of IT.
The idea is for the traveller to be able to authenticate themselves once and for all, either on their mobile device or at an airport kiosk.
And the beauty of it is no longer having to proffer boarding cards or ID!

Supported by IATA, the International Air Transport Association, wishing to restore air travel's original values - of comfort and convenience, the biometrics would be the guarantor of this identity at all airports.

Always innovative in terms of technology, the Australians have even surpassed the IATA proposal by
dematerializing passports to store them in the cloud to facilitate travel with their neighbours in New Zealand.
 
A process so in vogue that the ICAO, a United Nations agency based in Montreal, in charge of elaborating new air transport regulations, immediately created a working group devoted to digital identity and the dematerialization of passports.
 

A simplified and secure experience right up to the moment you hear those magic words: "Welcome aboard!"

The shape of travel to come: a fully end-to-end self-service experience thanks to biometrics

The self-service experience is a must for both travellers and operators

Faced with increasingly dense air traffic, over the past 20 years, airports and airlines have widely opted to deploy automatic systems to free up bottlenecks in passenger flows - which can be problematic at peak times - by simplifying the global check-in process.

These systems, in particular, the automatic check-in kiosks or automated bag drop-off points, have revolutionized the check-in process, allowing travellers to save time by checking themselves in, thus reducing waiting times by 30% compared to traditional check-in desks.

Studies show that the more passengers have access to the use of technology, the higher the satisfaction rate is, thus improving the passenger experience at the airport.

All these initiatives reflect the current trend towards greater automation of control procedures.

As a true expert in technology, the traveller spends his time surfing the web to look up a stock exchange listing, check emails or install the latest app in vogue. Booking a trip, checking in, boarding, smiling at the biometric app on the smartphone, all this is a breeze, and our passenger now finds it odd to be waiting in line to cross a border or board a plane.
 

Over 1 million ePassports in circulation

2. 5 billion electronic passports are now in service worldwide, which means over 2 billion passport photos accessible in a standardized format by face recognition systems; so it seems that the time has come for us to use eGates to cross borders!

This is today's most promising biometric recognition solution and has already been implemented in many airports.

Whether using an airport eGate or their mobile phone, travellers are now becoming aware that they carry their biometrics with them, which, to the extent that IATA classifies them as "trustworthy", gives them privileges.

So, whether the passenger's passport is stored in the cloud or his/her pocket, they want to see the doors open wide and enjoy the experience of travelling.

The biometric experience: what are we waiting for?

Recent studies have confirmed the time savings of the order of 80% thanks to automated check-in and security procedures.

And this, of course, is to the benefit of the shops and food & drink outlets that generate more than half of airport revenues!

Not to mention the compensation for the airport staff shortage airports experience since COVID.

​

Bag drop-offs, passport and boarding checks require dedicated teams that could be very advantageously replaced by simple "supervisors" who ensure a battery of equipment is functioning correctly or helping novice passengers.

Find out more about the traveller experience of tomorrow.

With this "Fly to Gate" concept, IER and Thales are positioning themselves as pioneers in providing innovative services that will facilitate travellers' lives without diminishing controls or compromising airport safety.

To find out more about our airport self-service solution, consult the Fly to Gate page.

You can, of course, also contact us directly.