Vision-Box Deploys Contactless Passenger Experience for Emirates Airline at Dubai International Airport

The contactless technologies will enhance passenger safety and security during the pandemic

Vision-Box’s Seamless Journey Platform – a state-of-the-art touchless and contactless passenger processing at the airport to provide passenger safety and security in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Vision-Box’s contactless technology will offer a sophisticated traveler experience, comprising an identification, clearance, and safety monitoring environment. The new infrastructure offers a suite of digital tools that reduces or eliminates passenger contact with touchscreen surfaces, and physical interaction with airport and airline staff, thus providing a safe travel experience.

Some of the key automated features of the Seamless Journey Platform provided for Emirates passengers include:

• Touchless identification using facial biometrics
• Contactless security checks for clearance
• Digital travel document authentication – eliminating the need for carrying paper documents
• Touchless lounge access
• Touchless boarding

The Seamless Journey Platform removes the time-consuming task of manual identification, meaning that passengers do not need to physically interact with potentially exposed touchpoints or exchange travel documents manually at counters. This also reduces long waits at checkpoints and curtails crowding at clearance hotspots, allowing passengers to navigate the airport a lot quicker and safely without the need for interacting with other people, thereby reducing the transmission and exposure to pathogens.

Vision-Box and Emirates reaffirmed their mutual commitment by signing a long-term agreement to deploy and advance a digital shift in passenger operations at Dubai Airport and beyond, aimed at keeping travelers and staff safe. Advanced touchless biometrics and contactless clearance technology used at Terminal 3 shifts the passenger clearance process from a manual interaction to one of minimal physical contact with automated self-service devices.

Using the award-winning Vision-Box Seamless Journey Platform, Emirates is optimizing traveler flow and passenger processing through security and clearance checks being performed in less time. Facial recognition biometrics offers the highest level of traveler identity security and significant improvements over the traditional manual and touch-based identification procedures in terms of hygiene, accuracy, and privacy protections.

The collaboration with Emirates is the result of a successful 4-year trial of digital identification technology when one of the world’s leading airlines selected Vision-Box as the key technology provider and partner to deliver a One-ID end-to-end biometric solution that complies with all international security and privacy standards.

In March 2019, Emirates launched its Biometric Path for select passengers at Dubai Airport T3. Travelers who chose to opt-in, enrolled their facial biometrics during the check-in process to generate their unique One-ID Single Identification Token. This digital enrollment allowed passengers to be automatically recognized and allowed for contactless passage through border control, boarding, and Emirates lounge access using eGates.

The new partnership with Vision-Box will now expand the enhanced contactless traveler experience to all Emirates Airline passengers. The agreement also covers an Emirates Group Enterprise-wide framework that will allow enhanced contactless access security measures to be deployed across all of the Emirate Group companies and affiliates.

Miguel Leitmann, the CEO of Vision-Box said “The need for touchless identity management and seamless passenger flow management is a new reality. As air travel dynamics have evolved under the covid-19 pandemic, the importance of a safe contactless passenger experience is paramount to the industry’s revival. Emirates has been one of the first in the world to recognize the need for contactless digital technology for passenger safety and has sought to swiftly implement the most advanced technology with Vision-Box’s touchless and contactless technology. With this combined with the Seamless Journey Platform, our smart passenger flow management platform, Emirates is fully equipped to offer a revolutionary world-class contactless experience for passengers navigating through the airport. We are excited to build this partnership with Emirates and together deliver safe, secure, and seamless experiences to the millions of travelers who chose to fly with Emirates.”

As part of the Seamless Journey Platform implementation, Vision-Box has deployed and delivered the first phase of the biometric self-service touchless devices at areas in Concourse B at Terminal 3. The Contactless Passenger solution includes eGates and VBoT IoT Biometric devices located at manual counters. The VBoT provides contactless biometric face enrolment and identification for Economy, Business, and First-Class travelers and is natively embedded into the Emirates check-in application. Last-generation smart eGates enable the use of Seamless Self-service processes for Lounge access and Automated Boarding that ensure a contactless travel experience. Emirates is already leveraging the flexibility of the Seamless Journey Platform on flights to the USA, directly connecting Vision-Box solution with the U.S. CBP TVS (Traveler Verification Service) from Dubai. In cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, TVS does not require pre-enrollment and allows Emirates to identify biometrically at boarding all the US outbound passengers. Subsequently, Vision-Box will scale up and implement contactless passenger solutions across all Terminal 3 concourses.

The powerful Seamless Journey Platform is fully compliant with Data Privacy regulations through its unique Privacy-by-Design certification. It operates under user-centric business rules and is the kernel of the advanced management of Identity proofing and Flow Monitoring of Passenger processes. The platform’s powerful capability allows it to process the full extent of Emirates passenger volume, thanks to its future-proof scalable design and resilient architecture.

With Emirates and Vision-Box building a strong case for contactless and hygienic biometric security on an enterprise-wide approach, they are providing the aviation industry with a model for business continuity in challenging conditions. Together they are enabling a distinctive touchless, contactless brand asset in the world of aviation 4.0 that is technologically grounded and inspires passenger confidence. The solution unleashes the power of the IATA One-ID framework as a tool to combat future epidemics and other threats.

Date: 23/10/2020