Dubai International Airport (DXB) is set to undergo a major transformation in passenger processing. In the near future, a single biometric such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, will be used for procedures ranging from check-in to immigration and boarding.
On Tuesday, officials from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) held a press conference to announce their plans to fully implement biometric technology.
This development is intended to speed up the movement of passengers and possibly make traditional immigration counters obsolete.
Major General Obaid bin Suroor, Deputy Director-General of GDRFA, said that this project has been under development for around two years, adding that its goal is to streamline several processes, allowing passengers to use a single biometric scan at the airport.
Major General Talal Al Shangeti, Assistant Director-General of the Airport Passport Sector at GDRFA, offered further insights.
He revealed that during the first half of the year, 37% of the 42 million passengers availed themselves of the available ‘smart gates’. The ambitious objective set forth by GDRFA is to see this figure rise to 80% within the next few years.
Currently, Dubai International Airport (DXB) has 120 operational smart gates. Plans are underway to increase them to 150 by the end of this year or early next year.
