UAE: No more passports and boarding passes at Dubai Airport

Passport or boarding pass is no longer required at Dubai International Airport as part of the emigration process. Instead, just use your face and eyebrows as an identification document. In the first phase, biometric emigration and boarding systems will be implemented on Emirates flights from Dubai International Airport. In addition to check-in and immigration, you can simply walk face-to-face without having to show your passport or boarding pass at any point, such as entering the Emirates Lounge or boarding a plane.

Dubai authorities are aiming to enable the use of new technology as well as pave the way for Covid-19 defense by introducing innovative face recognition technology. In the new situation, people will no longer have to line up and come in contact with the counter staff. Similarly, the feature of the new method is that the possibility of transmission of Covid-19 by contact can be eliminated by avoiding the transfer and redemption of passports and boarding passes to officials for inspection. It is also possible to avoid carrying paper documents unnecessarily.

The Directorate General of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDRFA) has named the new system the Biometric Passenger Journey, a technology-based system that uses facial and pupil features.

GDRFA Director General Major General Ahmed Ahmed Al Marri said the new system would help ease congestion at Dubai International Airport. This will make it easier for passengers to complete the airport procedures. The project is initially being piloted for Emirates passengers. If successful, other airlines would introduce face recognition to other passengers.

Authorities have set up 122 smart gates to board and board flights, avoiding airport check-in, immigration passport checks and boarding pass checks. The procedure, which normally takes about half an hour, can be completed and boarded in five to nine seconds with the new system. The director said that although the smart tunnel system, which completes the emigration process using the Emirates ID, is already operational, the new biometric system does not even require it.

The new biometric system is being implemented experimentally. Brigadier General Talal Ahmad Al Shankhiti, Assistant Director General of Port Affairs, said passengers would be able to pass through the smart gate by showing their Emirates ID in the old fashioned way. At the same time, passengers using the smart gate system must go to the Emirates check-in as soon as they arrive at the airport and register by providing biometric data. Biometric information including the passenger's face and pupil will be collected and stored here. The passenger can then walk on the plane without documents or boarding pass. When you reach the smart gate, the gate will open if you look at the green light on the camera installed in the gate. This means that your emigration and boarding process is complete. But,

• Arrive at Dubai International Airport and register with Emirates Check In.

• Here, the biometric information of the face and pupil will be registered online.

• Once registered, you can go through the smart gates

• Just put your passport in your pocket. The gate will open if you look at the green dots on the camera on the smart gate.

• You can pass through the boarding gate in the same way without showing the boarding pass.

• Business Class passengers can enter the Emirates Business Lounge through the Smart Gate without a boarding pass.

Last month, the UAE decided to implement a facial ID system that identifies people by scanning their faces instead of producing identification documents for official purposes. As part of this, a facial ID system was implemented on a trial basis for a few services in the private sector. The new method replaces the current method of identifying a person by examining the documents and instead of scanning the face using facial recognition technology to find out the person's identity. Verification and services will be easier with the introduction of facial recognition system. With the use of this technology, the need to go to the counter in the current manner and submit the documents and wait for them to be verified will be eliminated.