Orlando International Airport has upgraded its automated passport control (APC) kiosks to include facial recognition for arriving passengers. Supplied by SITA, the technology is part of a new requirement from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This requires that APC kiosks authenticate identity by matching people’s faces to the biometric record in their e-passport.
APC kiosks have become a regular feature at US airports over the past year; SITA has installed more than 300 at 10 airports with hundreds more on order. In June, the CBP updated the requirements for APC kiosks at US borders to include facial recognition capability and, with the support of SITA; Orlando Airport is the first to put this in place.
Paul Houghton, SITA President, Americas, said: “More and more, passengers arriving in the USA have the opportunity to use automated kiosks to make their way through the customs and immigration checks. These kiosks are a welcome addition to arrival areas and have helped reduce lines by as much as 40%.
“Now, there is added security as the CBP requires facial biometrics to be matched to the e-passport being presented. Almost 500 million e-passports have been issued globally; these hold facial biometrics while some also contain fingerprints. Our SITA APC kiosks comply with all the latest requirements and help bolster more efficient security checks at the airports.”
In addition to its work with Orlando International Airport, SITA is supporting other airports to meet the CBP requirements of making the kiosks available to more passengers. SITA’s APC kiosks have been a huge success at airports and are playing an increasingly critical role in operations to manage international passenger volumes. A key advantage of SITA’s kiosks is that they are future-proofed and can meet the CBP’s new requirement for facial recognition. All the technology works seamlessly and it doesn’t take any extra time for the passenger to have the facial check performed.
Nearly all passengers arriving on international flights can now use SITA APC kiosks at Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando airports. All these airports have upgraded their kiosks so that business or tourist visa holders, certain travelers with border crossing cards, and airline crew members can use them.
SITA is showcasing its APC kiosks with facial biometric capture at the 2015 ACI-NA Annual Conference & Exhibition, October 4-7, 2015 in Long Beach, CA. This industry event draws more than 1,700 delegates from more than 200 airports and airport authorities from across North America.
