Summary

The introduction of biometric technology at airports needs to be implemented carefully without major interruption to present operations and disruption to the passengers, and it should be integrated with present systems and technologies. Planning must not only focus on cost considerations but also address and incorporate appropriate data security and protections, legal compliance, public messaging, and scalability. Air industry stakeholders should monitor emerging technological developments, changes in legal and policy trends, and international organizations’ global initiatives.

Finally, the future of travel rests with the touchless experience: Biometrics is one of several key ingredients that will help transform airports through COVID-19 pandemic recovery.

Overview

The continued evolution of biometric technologies in aviation is likely to have a highly transformative impact on U.S. airports. Access control, passenger identification, and touchless boarding are some examples of the ways in which biometrics are being used at airports today. However, biometric technology is often misunderstood. For example, facial recognition has many controversial uses outside aviation that have created a negative perception of this class of technology.

As a result, TRB has published ACRP Research Report 233: Airport Biometrics: A Primer (available at https://doi.org/10.17226/26180). This report introduces readers to the types of biometrics that are available for use in the airport environment, and it provides details describing different matching modes and logistical options for biometric data collection and storage. It offers a vision for the future, explained by the following four components:

• Collection of tools: Biometrics is not simply one mode of operation; it is a family of different tools, devices, and storage mechanisms, each with different implications.
• Trust in identity: From preventing credit card fraud to intercepting imposters, biometrics can offer greater trust.
• Seamless flows: As with many visions for a single form of identification, biometrics can minimize the amount of document fumbling (passport, visa, health forms, etc.).
• Touchless airport experience: From the status of COVID-19 immunization to other ways of enabling airport retail to function, biometrics can help ensure minimized contact with disease-transmission media and surfaces, such as staff or devices.

As a cautionary point for future planning purposes, ACRP Research Report 233 emphasizes the need to consider interoperability among stakeholders and scalability to include multiple modules.

There are many ways biometrics are employed in airports, including facilitation, access control to secured areas, tailored customer services to the individual user, commercial use by retail or concessions vendors, and identification of fraud and reducing risk of fraud to minimize loss. The variety of biometric technology solutions in use at airports today highlights a potential future model for a touchless, fumble-free, and cashier-free passenger journey. Moreover, five key trends are identified:

• Trend 1: The deployment of integrated and multi-stakeholder biometric solutions is increasing, given its greater potential benefits.
• Trend 2: Digital transparency and privacy concerns are adding to the complexity of implementation, particularly as the legal landscape is changing.
• Trend 3: A focus on identity verification solutions is evident, in part to distinguish from mass surveillance programs that also leverage biometrics.
• Trend 4: Global biometrics and standards are emerging from a variety of governmental and non-governmental entities addressing privacy, security, ethical, and technological concerns.
• Trend 5: Smartphones are expected to enable more use of biometrics through the on-device storage capability for biometrics as well as the promise for the transmission of digital travel credentials.

For more information, click here to watch Biometrics Video 1: Introduction to Biometrics and here to watch Biometrics Video 5: Trends and Vision on Vimeo, both from Roeland Visser.

Key Aspects of Biometrics

There are three areas of attention summarized in ACRP Research Report 233: legal, policy, and privacy; planning and process considerations; and system design and information technology (IT) architecture.

Legal, Policy, and Privacy

To pursue biometrics as a potential solution to challenges in aviation, air industry stakeholders need to understand the legal, policy, and privacy issues associated with the use of biometric data. The two predominant policy and legal issues associated with the use of biometric data, including facial recognition, are protection of privacy rights and the inconsistent treatment under myriad international, federal, and state laws.

While the predominant concern under the U.S. Constitution is the right to privacy, of equal concern is that in the absence of a comprehensive national law on personal data, states have passed laws, a handful of which limit/prohibit the use of biometric data specifically, some of which address sensitive personal data, and all of which require action and notices upon the breach of systems. Many of these laws impose sanctions for failing to meet requirements pertaining to collecting and protecting biometric data.

Another equally concerning trend is the development of laws and restrictions by other countries, the European Union (EU), and international organizations, some with a broad reach that may impact airport operators and airlines in the United States, to include the assessment of penalties for noncompliance.

There are many sources of best practices for the protection of personal privacy. These include privacy-by-design principles, 2019 EU Data Protection Guidelines, and fair information practice principles, which offer guidance on transparency, adoption of policies and practices that incorporate privacy protections, communication tips, and other similar practices.

Planning and Process Considerations

With the use of biometrics in process improvements, airport stakeholders are advised to ultimately balance the demand and capacity of a facility to achieve certain operational requirements with the level of customer service. Numerous factors determine the applicability of biometrics in the airport setting, such as passenger demographics, airport size and geography, and the operational profile (e.g., primarily serving international or domestic traffic). Airports that are capacity constrained in some manner will likely be the early adopters of biometrics, given the imperative that any incremental benefit—regardless of magnitude—may offer a meaningful overall improvement.

Airport operators are advised to review the pros and cons of specific biometric implementations to decide whether implementation is warranted. In most cases, the return on investment (ROI) for the airport operator goes beyond strictly financial considerations for the implementation of biometric solutions. Instead of making decisions based solely on the financial ROI, airports are evaluating several additional considerations, such as customer service, airport technology goals, passenger safety, operational efficiency, and competitive concerns.

System Design and IT Architecture

When assessing the IT architecture, discussion focuses on the various types of biometric credentials; IT requirements, including storage and interoperability; and different uses, such as for e-gates, camera-on-a-stick, kiosks, and walk-through tunnels.

A secure digital biometric identity will bring many possibilities and advantages for passenger processing. Once an international standard is developed, it will be adopted very quickly in many countries around the globe; however, there is uncertainty as to when that will occur.

Except for U.S. citizens, there is no clear way to opt out of the Traveler Verification Service (TVS) government biometric system, which may conflict with privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation. Further complications include whether biometrics should be used for other (e.g., commercial) uses in the passenger journey.

Additionally, the technology framework behind TVS potentially works with different requirements than global developments such as OneID or the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Digital Travel Credential. Therefore, international interoperability may not be served well with TVS. Nonetheless, the U.S. market is big enough for broad application in the United States; thus, it may not be a concern for U.S. stakeholders. However, for the development of a global standard, it may be a disadvantage.

Click here to download ACRP Research Report 233: Airport Biometrics: A Primer.