CLEAR Clears First Regulatory Approval for St. Louis Airport Deployment

CLEAR is a big step closer to bringing its biometric expedited screening platform to another US airport: St. Louis’s Airport Commission has approved a contract to bring CLEAR to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The contract now just needs approval from the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Approval could make Lambert Airport the 35th airport in the country to support CLEAR, which enables faster passenger screening by linking the fingerprint and iris biometrics of those who sign up to the program to their pre-registered biographic data. Officials can authenticate the travelers with a simple scan, helping to speed up screening process.

The CLEAR program already enjoys the support of Lambert Airport administrators, of course. Commenting on the program, Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge described it as one aimed at improving “consumer convenience” for travelers at the airport.

News of CLEAR’s push into St. Louis comes after major deployments in Houston and Chicago toward the end of 2019. CLEAR has also seen deployments of its expedited screening program at major sports and event venues, with New York’s Citi Field having recently become the second venue to get a biometric payments system for its concession stand in September. The system also uses CLEAR members’ biometrics for authentication, and lets them make purchases without a payment card or cash by link their CLEAR membership to their payment accounts.

A senior executive with CLEAR’s parent company Alclear said that the company is hoping to begin operations in St. Louis within the next few months, the AP reports.

Source: The Associated Press

–

January 13, 2020 – by Alex Perala