A major passport control change is set to reduce long airport queues for British passengers.
Manchester Airport was the first hub to use the new technology as it underwent a trial last month over a three-week period.
British passport-holders were able to be quickly processed via the devices which were fitted onto the e-gates and used facial recognition.
Phil Douglas, Border Force director-general, told The Times how the trial had been a success suggested the tech ‘considerably reduced’ processing times.
He explained: ‘So people approach the e-gate, it recognises them [as] already on our database, and they’re checked through.’
Technology including biometrics and AI facial recognition is now used alongside documents like passports in a huge shift for border control methods, Phil shared.
He said: ‘The border has really changed over the last few years and that work is picking up pace.
‘Public expectations have changed and technology has changed.’
Manchester Airport was the first hub to use the new technology as it underwent a trial last month over a three-week period
Usually, on the current gates, passengers insert their passport into the e-gate which is scanned alongside a photograph of themselves.
If everything is in order, the gates open and the traveller is allowed through.
Phil revealed there were plans for even more gates ‘of one description or another’ to be introduced across the UK, which already as more than 270 e-gates.
He said: ‘The Manchester pilot has shown that we can actually reduce transaction times considerably as well.’
The new ‘contactless gates’ are designed to increase the processing speed and bring the UK to the same standard as other countries already using similar technology, like Dubai.
Earlier this year, the Home Office trialled facial recognition technology at maritime ports for passengers returning to Britain from elsewhere in a bid to cut waiting times.
Usually travellers are required to hand their passports to a Border Force officer who then scans them in a biometric reader one-by-one – a time-consuming task, particularly during the holidays when cars are groaning with families.
With the new technology, passengers provide documents ahead of time and glide through border control at Calais, Dunkirk or any other UK maritime border in seconds without any need to wait.
British passport-holders were able to be quickly processed via the devices which were fitted onto the e-gates and used facial recognition
The new tech could use super high-resolution cameras to photograph subjects through their windscreens.
Alternatively, it can have them look at a roadside camera to verify their identity against their travel documents.
Staff will still be on hand for ‘passengers of interest’ – namely anyone on watchlists, or flagged as having safeguarding or intelligence concerns, as well as those whose identity doesn’t match up to their passport’s biometric data.
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Major passport control change set to reduce long airport queues for Brits
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