EXPRESS CHECK-IN – AND MORE

Self-service solution promises to ease the queue blues

FLYING IS THE QUICK PART of air travel. It’s the drawn-out queues at airport check-ins and security checkpoints that slow things down and raise blood pressures. Automation is being touted as the answer to those frustrations and it seems flyers can expect to encounter more automated and online services as part of their journeys thanks to air travel’s burgeoning popularity (see “Soaring aloft”). That’s the reasoning behind a recently announced partnership between Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, and logistics experts IER, leading designers of solutions that improve the flow of goods and people.

The two organisations have teamed up to create Fly to Gate, described as an end-to-end self-service airport experience for travellers. Essentially, Fly to Gate answers the growing need for a self-service experience that takes travellers smoothly from their home to the departure gate. A typical Fly to Gate departure solution gives the traveller the choice between mobile checkin or self-service kiosks and includes bag drop points, border control, security and boarding gates.

The concept combines IER’S selfservice equipment and services with Gemalto’s border management solutions opens a swift and secure biometric pathway through the airport. From facial recognition to document verification that integrates with immigration systems, it’s said to be capable of security operational efficiency that complies with the most stringent requirements for security, yet flexible enough to meet individual airport operator requirements, with the potential to make virtually all traveller handling processes automatic. By putting the passenger in control of their airport experience, Gemalto and IER’S joined-up approach reduces queueing, as well as the stress and strain associated with air travel. There’s a plus side for airports and airlines, too: more free time to spend, spend, spend.

Says Frédéric Trojani, executive vice president of government at Gemalto, “The appetite for automated, selfservice travel experiences is already evident in the success of electronic travel authorisation, online check-in and automated border egates. For the first time, Fly to Gate offers a chance to reap the full benefits of this trend, working with leading partners whose solutions have been proven in numerous deployments.”