Biometrics for Safer Air Travel

Subsequent to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, airports authorities and government agencies have been in a tizzy over balancing heightened security measures with practicality. One could theoretically perform a whole range of security checks on every passenger to be absolutely certain that there are no lapses, but with almost 65,000 flights taking off every day in the US alone, that would be a physical impossibility.

Following special checks conducted at 32 airports in the US, the government’s transportation department inspector general Kenneth Mead reported that human screeners at airports missed knives 70 percent of the time, guns 30 percent of the time and simulated explosives 60 percent of the time.

Not very heartening results for nervous air travellers.

Enter biometrics, where human error can be reduced considerably, if not eliminated altogether, in the screening of passengers. Airlines and industry trade associations have been enthused by the results of security experiments carried out in recent months using various types of biometric checks. Of course these checks are not used on luggage, but on people, to spot known criminals and allow others that the system recognises (such as frequent fliers pre-determined as low risk) to go through without additional checks.

Airlines are now contemplating the introduction of biometrics systems to speed up the security for business travellers, frequent fliers and others, who would perhaps even be willing to pay a fee for the additional convenience. Experts believe that despite protests from privacy groups and others, biometrics checks will become commonplace at most airports within five years.

London’s Heathrow Airport has introduced a “Simplifying Passenger Travel” programme, which utilises iris scans to facilitate security. Two thousand frequent fliers have scans of their irises stored in a database and can make use of the biometrics security system for faster security when embarking on trans-Atlantic flights of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways—they simply file past a special camera, and if approved, circumvent most of the security checkpoints and proceed faster to the gate.

Identix Live Scan TouchPrint 2000 Applicant Fingerprint Systems have been ordered by five US airports to assist airports in complying with employee background checks mandated by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.

The systems will be deployed in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in Florida, Lincoln Airport in Nebraska, Des Moines International Airport in Iowa, and Springfield Airport in Missouri.

Several airports in the US have adopted face recognition systems to beef up security. This is becoming the preferred biometrics method, because it does not require people to go through special scanning equipment but instead relies on distant cameras to identify people.

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