By October, outbound international
passengers at Orlando International Airport will no longer need to show their
boarding passes or passports at their departure gates.
Instead, they will look into a camera that will scan their face and merge
both the boarding verification and U.S. government biometric departure check in
one expedited process.
Known as Smart Path, the facial-recognition system has been created by
SITA, which will provide the hardware, technology and professional services to
operate it at 30 international boarding gates across the airport.
The decision to deploy Smart Path for all international departures at
the airport comes after SITA completed a trial of the technology with British
Airways, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During that
test, SITA says British Airways has been able to simultaneously conduct
boarding and secure biometric exit checks for about 240 people in just 15
minutes.
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“Our decision to implement biometric exit checks across the
whole airport follows a hugely successful live trial,” says John Newsome, chief information
officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
“The innovative boarding process we tested is really popular
with passengers. They simply look at the camera, and within seconds the gate
opens and they can board the flight. It is easy, fast and, most importantly,
secure. The solution works on common-use boarding gates and can be easily used
by the many international airlines that we serve at MCO.”
About six million passengers
board international flights from the Orlando airport every year.