Reducing queue times and improving airport security with face recognition technology.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – Face recognition technology is being rapidly implemented across airports and different public domains. Considering the amount of people that navigate through airports, governments now realise the importance of implementing robust security measures to prevent criminal activity. Similarly, average passport queue times at major airports range from 30 minutes to several hours during peak periods, causing major inconvenience for travelers and airport personnel. The implementation of innovative measures such as face recognition and biometric authentication significantly reduced queue time.
Facia, a leading provider of face recognition and liveness detection services can reduce queue times at major airports by up to 65%. It is the world’s fastest liveness detection provider with a response time of less than a second, and an error rate of 0%.
Birmingham Airport reported an average security queue time of 29 minutes. If that is reduced to around 11 minutes, it would save approximately 20 minutes per passenger. Birmingham Airport experiences almost 40,000 passengers per day resulting in saving of 13,000 cumulative traveler hours, and approximately saving 400,000 cumulative hours every month. Reducing queue times would significantly reduce the stress on security companies.
Countries such as the United Arab Emirates and the United States have already implemented face recognition capabilities at some of their airports. This has enhanced traveler experience, and reduced the average passenger time in passport control to two minutes. One million travelers per month are already passing through that smart tunnel.
There is no doubt that face recognition technology will be widely used at airports in the coming years. However, an additional layer of security would be Iris detection. This would be a step ahead in terms of security considering most individuals now travel with face masks post COVID 19. Anyone who feels uncomfortable in removing the mask can still comply with all security protocols.
As the world moves towards innovation, airports not just have to focus on security, but also implement protocols to enhance traveler experience. According to The International Air Transport Association, 36% of travelers are discouraged from traveling due to complex visa requirements and airport complications. Considering this data is based on over 8,000 responses from 200 countries, this is a significant amount of people.
Facilitating passengers and increasing airport security is one of the highest priorities of global security agencies. Using biometric authentication methods such as face recognition will transform the airport experience for millions of travelers around the world. Private organisations such as Facia continue to expand their innovative efforts to enhance traveler experience and strengthen border security.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
