Brazil Tests IDEMIA’s Biometric Passenger Processing Tech for Domestic Air Shuttle Service

The Federal Government of Brazil has started the testing phase of its entirely digital and facial recognition-based boarding and passenger processing system at the Congonhas Airport (SP) for a shuttle service between the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The Project Embarque + Sugura 100% Digital Boarding System — which launched in March of this year at the Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro, and has been tested at the Florianópolis (SC), Salvador (BA), Santos Dumont (RJ) and Belo Horizonte (Confins) airports — will allow passengers to travel on an air shuttle service between Brazil’s two major cities without ever needing to present a boarding pass or any other form of identification.

Embarque + Segura is a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sepro, a federal information technology company.

“It is the first time that tests are carried out simultaneously in two of our airports, thus establishing, in an unprecedented way, a 100 percent biometric air shuttle between RJ / SP, which has the fifth-largest movement in the world”, said Marcelo Sampaio, the executive secretary of Brazil’s Ministry of Infrastructure.

The program is optional, and travellers who wish to participate are invited to try the biometric facial recognition technology at the boarding area and in the aircraft at both the departure and arrival terminals.

“Embarque + Seguro combines biometric validation and data analysis, ensuring an accurate, agile and secure validation of the identity of passengers, who can thus travel with more comfort and tranquility. The solution complies with the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and is premised on security in the processing of personal data against misuse or unauthorized use”, said Serpro president, Gileno Barreto.

Built on IDEMIA’s MFACE technology, Embarque + Segura works by asking passengers who opt-in to pause for a photo, which is then authenticated against the one on file in the government database. Access to the individual’s government data is granted via an SMS message sent when opting in to the program.

Once their identity is verified, the passenger is allowed to proceed through the terminal and onto the aircraft, passing a series of biometric control points that further authenticate their identity using facial recognition-capable cameras.

“Facial recognition is a global trend and the Project Embarque + Seguro, jointly carried out by Minfra and Serpro, shows that Brazil is on the right track to airport digitalization,” said Márcio Lambert, Director of the Public Security & Identity (PSI) division of IDEMIA in Brazil. “IDEMIA is proud to participate in this project along with Brazil’s Federal Government and to enable the world’s first 100 percent end-to-end digitized boarding system in an executive air shuttle service”.

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June 17, 2021 — by Tony Bitzionis