Recent Airport Facial Recognition Initiatives in Asia, North America, and Europe Reflect the Acceleration of Biometrics Beyond Border Control.
Over the past three days Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson, London’s Heathrow, and Shanghai’s Hongqiao airports announced biometric facial recognition deployments aimed at improving the passenger experience while expediting the passenger journey.
These announcements substantiate Acuity Market Intelligence forecasts projecting the global market for “Curb to Gate” Biometric Airport Automation will generate $1.3 billion in revenue over the next five years as more than 16,300 eGates and kiosks are deployed for automated check-in, auto bag drop, passport control, security checkpoints, and boarding by 2022.
“Biometrics in the airport is no longer just about border control. As global digital transformation creates expectations for frictionless experience, adoption of biometric automation at airports is moving beyond secure, facilitation towards enhanced passenger journeys. The age of seamless travel is here.”
The ultimate 21st century “holy grail” for immigration and passenger facilitation is to provide a truly seamless and virtually unnoticeable airport experience. An experience that increases passenger capacity and throughput while freeing travelers to enjoy leisure activities — shopping, eating, drinking, etc., — and freeing security personnel and border control authorities from resource intensive routine screenings to focus on identifying and evaluating authentic security threats.
This process is well underway as Airlines and airports across the globe are coordinate with Immigration and Border Control Agencies to create biometric-based passenger self-service options that save time, reduce the hassle of check-in, bag drop, security, passport control, and boarding, enhancing the entire airport experience.
Acuity’s latest research – The Airport Automated Biometric Facilitation Report: From Curb to Gate – reveals that more than 5,500 Automated Border Control (ABC) eGates, ABC Kiosks, Automated Passport Control (APC) Kiosks, Automated Immigration Check-in (AIC) Kiosks, Auto Bag Drop (ABD) units, and Automated Boarding (AIB) eGates are currently deployed at more than 300 locations in more than 80 countries. The number of Automated Biometric Facilitation units is expected to triple by 2022 with expansion to dozens of additional airports.
Europe will continue to dominate the Automated Biometric Facilitation market during the 2018 to 2022 forecast period, accounting for nearly 30% of total units deployed and generating more than 34% of all revenues. However, Acuity expects rapid growth in Asia to shift market dynamics to near total Asian market domination by 2028 or 2030.
“The Airport Automated Biometric Facilitation Report: From Curb to Gate” provides unit and revenue forecasts for biometric eGates and kiosks from 2018 to 2022 and can be previewed and purchased at the Acuity website.
Acuity also offers the ABC eGate Deployment List and APC Kiosk DeploymentList. Both are offered in spreadsheet format and provide details about each known deployment including location, units, owners, biometrics modality, registration and credential requirements, and vendors. The scoresheet also include a vendor market share analysis.
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