Brazil’s Congonhas Airport is trialing a digital biometric boarding system for the shuttle service between Rio de Janeiro (Santos Dumont) and São Paulo.
The Project Embarque + Seguro 100% Digital Boarding System, using the Brazilian government’s facial recognition, arrived on June 15. The MFACE technology, developed by IDEMIA, quickly captures facial biometrics without the need to present a boarding pass or an identification document.
The Ministry of Infrastructure project, developed in partnership with Serpro and the Special Secretariat of Debureaucratization, Management and Digital Government of the Ministry of Economy, has already been tested at the airports of Florianópolis, Salvador, Santos Dumont and Belo Horizonte.
When checking in at the airport, passengers are invited to participate in the project. If the passenger agrees, then a message is sent to their cell phone requesting authorization to obtain the passenger’s data, including the social security number and a photo. Upon consent, the airline attendant, using the application developed by Serpro for this purpose, performs the biometric validation of the citizen, comparing the data and the photo taken on the spot with the government databases. After validation, the passenger can enter the departure hall and ultimately the aircraft passing through biometric control points without the need for the user to present any document or boarding pass.
In the pilot project, indicators such as queue time reduction, access to the departure hall and aircraft will be measured, in addition to operating costs.
Following approval of the pilot project, the Brazilian government will move to effectively implement the technology in major Brazilian airports.
