Airports operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Davao International Airport Authority (DIAA) are looking into the pilot operation of passenger biometrics for airport processing, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Roberto Lim, DOTr undersecretary for the aviation and airports sector, said biometrics processing may be implemented from the airport’s entry up to boarding.
“The future is now… biometrics passenger processing will significantly make the Philippine airport experience more pleasant, more efficient,” Lim said at the Biometric Airport Passenger Processing Forum held in Davao City last week.
A single token created from the passenger’s biometric facial scan, the boarding pass and a biometric data embedded ID, such as a passport, will allow a passenger to breeze through the airport entrance, check-in, final boarding pass check to airside, and boarding.
With resource persons from among the world leaders in biometrics airport processing technology, participants from the country’s airport operators were provided with a full view of the benefits of putting the process and technologies in place in airports as gleaned from the many international reference sites.
Participants from the government include the Manila International Airport Authority, Clark International Airport Corp., DIAA and CAAP, with GMT-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. and Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. representing the private sector.
Also present during the forum were representatives from major airlines, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine AirAsia; the Bureau of Immigration; and other ground handling companies.
Meanwhile, Amadeus, Collins Aerospace, Idemia, SITA and VisionBox tackled topics of data privacy, biometric sources and interoperability.
