Emirates gets US approval for biometric boarding
Gulf carrier Emirates has got approval from US Customs Border Protection for biometric boardingof inbound US flights.
It becomes the first foreign airline approved by the CBP.
It will allow passengers departing from Dubai to opt for facial recognition processing at the departure gates for US-bound flights.
Emirates is touting just two seconds to verify a customer’s identity.
The tech was piloted at Dubai departure gates during the summer for New York and Los Angeles flights.
The airline says some flights had 100% biometric boarding.
The system scans a passenger’s photo, which is monitored against the CBP’s image database in real-time to verify an identity in two seconds or less.
"CBP has been working with our stakeholders like Emirates to build a simplified, but secure travel process that aligns with CBP’s and the travel industry’s modernization efforts," said John Wagner, deputy executive assistant commission, office of field operations, US Customs and Border Protection.
Emirates expects to roll it out for all US flights by the end of this year.
The airline flies to a dozen US destinations including Newark, Boston, Dallas, Houston, san Francisco and Orlando.
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