Athens International Airport is trialling biometrics at key points of the passenger journey.
Passengers flying with Aegean Airlines from Greece’s largest airport can take part in the trial.
It uses uses facial recognition to identify passengers at key steps in the journey without having to show their passport or boarding card.
Passengers flying with Aegean Airlines from Athens International Airport can take part in the trial by scanning their face at check-in and at security points.
When arriving at Athens Airport to check in, passengers who use the trial, scan their passport and have their facial biometrics captured. Once completed, passengers can then proceed to security where they can be verified as a known traveler – without having to show a boarding pass. Passengers simply have their face scanned and then are offered a fast track through security.
Alexandros Ziomas, Acting Director, IT&T Business Unit at Athens International Airport:
“Passengers really appreciate the ease of using SITA’s Smart Path trial. It has reduced the time taken to check in and verify passenger identity at security to only a few seconds. It will solve a key challenge for us by ensuring a steady flow of passengers to the security area. This is a service we would like to extend to other steps in the journey over time.”
Sergio Colella, SITA President for Europe:
“As most airports around the world already have self-service infrastructure in place, installing Smart Path is cost-effective and easy to implement. Yet, the improvement to security and the passenger experience is tremendously positive. It explains the growing interest in this solution from both airlines and airports in Europe and around the world.”
Supplier
The system, called Smart Path, comes from SITA. A key benefit of Smart Path is that its technology integrates with the airport’s existing common-use check-in kiosks and boarding gates, making the solution both cost-effective and available to multiple airlines.
Smart Path can also be tailored to an airport’s or airline’s specific requirements, allowing Athens Airport to offer this service to other airlines in future, including Aegean’s Star Alliance partners.
Athens International Airport is the latest airport to use SITA’s Smart Path solution, joining Brisbane, Doha, Muscat, Orlando, Miami and Boston airports.
N.B. Image credit: Athens International Airport
