Emirates Becomes First Non-American Airline To Receive Approval For Biometric Boarding To The United States


Emirates has become the first non-American airline approved by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for biometric boarding on flights to the United States from its hub in Dubai.

The technology has been tested on flights to New York and Los Angeles since July and will now be rolled out on all services to the 12 destinations across the United States served by Emirates.
A number of foreign airlines have been using biometric boarding for international flights departing several U.S. airports since 2017 but this is the first time the technology has been approved for use on flights entering the United States.

Los Angeles International Airport has one of the biggest uptakes of the system with Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, KLM, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines all making use of biometric boarding.

Instead of manually scanning a boarding pass and then visually checking a passport, biometric boarding works by taking a photo of a passenger and then verifiying their identity against the CBP database within seconds.  Airlines that have used biometric boarding for some time say that in many cases the time to board an aircraft has been halved.

And despite some privacy concerns, passengers are also in favour of biometric boarding.  In fact, according to Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, 72 per cent of passengers prefer facial recognition to standard boarding.  Emirates, meanwhile, is quick to allay privacy fears, explaining that the airline does not collect or store any biometric data.

“Our ultimate aim is to help our passengers travel paperless, without the need for passports and IDs,” explains Emirate’s head of group security, Dr Abdulla Al Hashimi.

Last year, Emirates shared a vision of using biometric technology throughout the airport experience – from check-in to entering the lounge and strolling through a “smart tunnel” to clear immigration.

Image credit: Emirates

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