IDEMIA Tech Aids Biometric Expansion at Singapore’s Changi Airport

“…ultimately, the aim is to let all travelers move through the airport without the need to present physical documents such as passports or boarding passes.”

Just a couple of weeks after the news that Singapore’s high-profile Changi Airport would dramatically expand its biometric passenger screening capabilities, IDEMIA has revealed its prominent involvement in the airport’s ongoing digital transformation efforts.

Changi has been a hotbed of biometric innovation in recent years, having first enabled biometric passenger processing back in 2017. That took the form of a face-scanning system deployed in Terminal 4 of the airport – a system provided by IDEMIA. Changi authorities followed that up with deployments of face and iris scanning kiosks for immigration control in the summer of 2020, a measure aimed at reducing the use of shared surfaces in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, IDEMIA has revealed that it will provide an enhanced, multimodal biometric identity verification system in the T1 and T2 terminals of the airport. Dubbed the ‘TraveLane 2 Step solution with ID-Look’, the system is being deployed in an effort to support the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s New Clearance Concept, which is aimed at automating passenger processing for all travelers by 2023.

What’s more, IDEMIA says that its solution will support a ‘family lane’ feature in which up to four individuals can be processed at a time.

Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority announced its plans to extend automated passenger screening last month. Authorities expect to extend the automated screening to foreign travelers in the second half of this year; ultimately, the aim is to let all travelers move through the airport without the need to present physical documents such as passports or boarding passes.

For IDEMIA, the effort represents an opportunity to solidify its relationships with airport and border authorities in the city-state.

“We are proud to have supported Singapore in their quest to deliver a safer, flexible and more efficient passenger processing experience to meet modern travel needs,” commented Tim Ferris, IDEMIA’s SVP of Public Security and Identity for the APAC region. “As borders reopen and global travel restarts, we are delighted to extend our longstanding partnership with Singapore and contribute our expertise in biometrics and identity management to help them transition into a new digital-first future of travel.”

Meanwhile, IDEMIA has also enjoyed a heightened profile in airport screening innovation in the US in recent months. The company’s technology is being used to scan and verify Apple’s pioneering mobile IDs at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, with further deployments expected in the coming months.

–

June 8, 2022 – by Alex Perala