To enhance security while reducing queues and intrusive searches at airports, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has unveiled a checkpoint technology, which uses intelligence-driven risk-based measures.
The screening technology will allow passengers to walk through the checkpoint without having to remove clothes or unpack their belongings, the association says.
Moreover, it is envisioned that the security process could be combined with outbound customs and immigration procedures, further streamlining the passenger experience, it adds.
According to the IATA, the main concepts of the checkpoint are strengthened security by focusing resources where risk is greatest and supporting this risk-based approach by integrating passenger information into the checkpoint process.
“This will also maximise throughput for the vast majority of travellers who are deemed to be low risk with no compromise on security levels.”
Decent, secure
Director general and CEO of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani, says the aviation industry spends $7.4 billion a year to keep aviation secure. “But passengers only see hassle so it must make coordinated investments for civilised flying.
“Passengers should be able to get from curb to boarding gate with dignity. This means without stopping, stripping or unpacking, and certainly not groping. That is the mission for this checkpoint technology,” he adds.
According to the IATA, the technology termed 'Checkpoint of the Future' ends the 'one-size-fits-all' concept for security. Passengers approaching the checkpoint will be directed to one of three lanes: 'known traveller', 'normal', and 'enhanced security'.
The determination will be based on a biometric identifier in the passport or other travel document that triggers the results of a risk assessment conducted by government before the passenger arrives at the airport, it adds.
The three security lanes will have technology to check passengers according to risk. 'Known travellers' who have registered and completed background checks with government authorities will have expedited access. 'Normal screening' would be for the majority of travellers and those passengers for whom less information is available, who are randomly selected or who are deemed to be an 'elevated risk' would have an additional level of screening.
Bisignani says today's checkpoint was designed four decades ago to stop hijackers carrying metal weapons.
“Since then, we have grafted on more complex procedures to meet emerging threats. We are more secure, but it is time to rethink everything.”
He says the aviation industry needs a process that responds to today's threats. It must amalgamate intelligence based on passenger information and new technology. This means moving from a system that looks for bad objects to one that can find bad people, he adds.
He says at the moment the aviation industry has the ability to move to the biometric scanning and three-lane concept right now. “And while some of the technology still needs to be developed, even by just re-purposing what we have today, we could see major changes in two or three years' time.”
Interpol's call
Last week, Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble told IATA that the security of passengers and aircraft is a shared responsibility and that aviation security requires the industry to step in where governments fail.
According to Noble, airlines have an interest in ensuring passenger safety that equals that of governments, and that if governments fail to properly screen passengers' identity documents, then the airline industry must do so.
There are two imperatives which guide joint action on air travel security - getting better at facing today's threats, and getting ready for the threats of tomorrow, he said.
“The most glaring global security gaps linked to airline security remain the gaps that have existed for almost 20 years. Terrorists and other dangerous criminals continue to enter and pass through countries using falsified stolen passports,” Noble pointed out.
The failure of the vast majority of the world's countries to screen these against a global database of stolen and lost passports can be corrected by the airline industry, and the industry could collaborate with Interpol to do so, he said.
“We should exploit our available global tools; we should give the airline industry access to essential data and focus on the only element that will always be present whenever air travel is targeted: the passenger's identity document.”
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