Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has proposed a new biometric-based technology to register the arrivals of the Indian citizens arriving at the airport. The technology will allow the Indian passport holders returning to the country to skip the lengthy immigration queues at the airport. Currently, the arrived passengers wait in the immigration queue and get their passports stamped. With the new technology, the passengers can get their iris/palm/thumb scanned and leave the airport. The arrangement will help to reduce the waiting time for the foreign passengers as well, as the queues shorten.
Proposed Technology Can Speed Up the Processes at the Airport
Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) has submitted a detailed proposal about the technology and the project to the Bureau of Immigration. Once approved and executed, it can speed up several processes at the airport.
Similar technology is in use in advanced countries such as Singapore and Australia. According to Hari K. Marar, the Managing Director and CEO of BIAL, 75-80% of international passengers arriving at airports like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are Indians. If these many people can walk through after a simple iris/palm/thumb scan, it can drastically change the way airports operate.
BIAL will develop the necessary technology. Immigration has a unified database, and the passports will get digitally stamped under the proposed technology. Once digitally stamped, it will have the same data as of the physical stamp. When the passenger flies out from any other Indian airport, the digital stamp will show the details of the earlier arrivals.
Possibility to extend the technology for all passengers
Similar technology can be used for passport holders flying out of the country as well. However, BIAL proposes for implementation of the system only for the arriving passengers. According to Marar, the passport itself can be made as an electronic document.
Bengaluru is known for using innovative technologies to ease the travel experience of passengers. Projects like Digi-Yatra using Aadhaar-based biometric were conducted at Bengaluru airport.
