With over 3 billion air passengers around the world per year, which is estimated to double over the next fifteen years, border control is becoming a big issue for governments. Countries seek to strike a balance between security measures to protect their countries and an efficient flow and better experience for growing numbers of travellers, who are increasingly mobile and connected. Immigration and customs authorities are the first in line to prevent terrorist attacks and combat organised crime and human trafficking. Yet an explosion in numbers of travellers is hampering their task to pinpoint threats without slowing down passenger flows.
Recent border security improvements, including use of cutting-edge biometric technology, ensures everyone who enters and leaves a country is safely identified, while providing more accurate details of who is in a country at any given time. Biometric tech does indeed reliably match travellers with their travel documents, thereby providing irrefutable proof of identity.
The latest generation solutions, including biometric contactless technology from Idemia, help immigration officers in their daily border security tasks. The tech does indeed provide better security, make passenger flows smoother and improve people’s travel experience via electronic counters, self-service check-ins and automatic passport controls.
To counter growing threats, systems automatically collecting and analysing passenger data already exist in many countries to help authorities carry out their duties. Information given before flying (API – Advance Passenger Information) and reservation details (PNR – Passenger Name Record) helps authorities analyse and check passenger data in real time before they enter or leave a country, while improving high data volume processing.
Data gathered such as travellers’ previous trips abroad, help the authorities pinpoint potentially dangerous travellers and assess risks to passengers with a view to carrying out in-depth checks in the case of a real threat. So threats can be anticipated and manpower saved by concentrating on the small number of really dangerous passengers. Risks are not only reduced because they are identified, anticipated and so dealt with more efficiently, the travel experience is also smoother and enhanced due to shorter waiting times for the vast majority of passengers.
Analysing travel data prior to a flight, which is made easier by latest AI tech, also brings additional resources to security officers. Thanks to biometric passenger identification technology, officers can now concentrate more on investigating dangerous individuals.
Managing visa and travel authorisations is nowadays an intrinsic part of modern, integrated border security systems. This is a key factor in improving passenger security and convenience. Idemia, for example, provides electronic visa and travel authorisation solutions to transform and streamline procedures for both the travelling public and the authorities who issue travel documents. Idemia’s solutions are designed to boost efficiency and border security by delivering irrefutable proof of identity underpinned by cross-checking documents with national and international lists prior to travel. The tech also allows easier control of overstays and smooths arrivals by cutting queues at airports, seaports and land borders based on forecasting demand.
“The number of air passengers is expected to double over the next fifteen years. As a result, border control is becoming a big challenge for governments. Idemia helps strike a balance between stringent security measures, efficient passenger flow and a seamless user experience with AI and biometric solutions.” says Olivier Charlanes, Senior Vice President Marketing and Product Offer – Idemia Public Security & Identity Business Unit.
