AWRE-Speculation- Interesting developments IMO, but miles to go for AWRE ?
Air France-KLM to pilot biometric boarding at two US airports.
Franco-Dutch airline holding company Air France-KLM will start testing biometric boarding using facial recognition technology at two airports in the US.
The company has joined hands with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to start the pilot of a biometric boarding process at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston.
In the trial period, more than 2,000 passengers will use biometric identity daily to board Air France flights.
Air France-KLM said that during the trials it will evaluate the speed, consistency, and user-friendliness of the biometric boarding technology.
Air France KLM USA vice-president and general manager Stephane Ormand said: “We are excited to embrace an innovation that has the potential to make the travel experience less stressful and more secure for our passengers.
“Our aim is to implement biometric boarding at 93% of all US airports by the year’s end, and 100% by 2020.”
Initially, Air France and KLM passengers flying from Dallas Fort-Worth, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Dulles, San Francisco, and Seattle can avail biometric boarding facilities.
Apart from Air France-KLM, a number of airlines including JetBlue, British Airways, Qantas, and Delta are also testing biometric boarding technology.
Finnair began offering biometric boarding with Vision-Box technology at Los Angeles International Airport in May.
In the same month, Boston Logan International Airport in New England, US deployed CLEAR biometric technology to speed up security checks.
In August last year, Heathrow Airport announced plans to roll out biometric services on a full scale from mid-2019, giving the airport the largest biometric deployment in the world.
airport-technology.com
Afghanistan approves $15M purchase of 17,865 biometric devices for upcoming elections
Jul 8, 2019 | Chris Burt
Categories Biometrics News | Elections | ID for All
Afghanistan’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has approved funding to deploy biometric devices to ensure the integrity of the country’s upcoming presidential elections, TOLOnews reports.
In an emergency meeting, the National Procurement Commission (NPC) approved the acquisition of 17,865 devices requested by the IEC, along with printers, paper, and power banks. Both publications say the biometric devices and accessories will cost €14.14 million (US$15.86 million).
The IEC says it is also reforming Afghanistan’s voter registries. Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan Head Naeem Ayubzada notes that no biometric technology can overcome problems on the voters’ lists.
The IEC had previously allocated $30 million to purchase biometric identity verification devices, while in negotiations with multiple companies.
DERMALOG devices have been previously used for elections in Afghanistan, and are expected to be used in the presidential elections, but it is unclear if the additional devices will also be supplied by the company. There were widespread allegations of fraud and vote-rigging following the national elections held with DERMALOG biometric devices last October.
“The company itself is cooperating with us, the company undertakes training to us, particularly to those who will work as our trainers in the elections,” IEC member Habib-Ur-Rahman Nang said, according to TOLOnews.
The NPC believes the IEC needs a total of 39,000 devices for the election, which is scheduled for September 28, according to Khaama Press. The NPC says the government supplied 20,000 devices to the IEC for the previous parliamentary elections.
DERMALOG supplied about 24,000 devices to the IEC last year, but at least 5,000 were reportedly lost or stolen. This and other challenges led the IEC to decide against using biometrics for the presidential election, which it was immediately asked to reverse by candidates from several parties.
biometricupdate.com |
