Dubai Airport to go passport-free with AI, biometrics

Facial-recognition cameras backed by artificial intelligence will replace all physical passport control stations and even smart gates at Dubai Airport, with travellers being repeatedly scanned and verified as they move through the terminal.

There’ll be no need to stop and show any documents from the moment they enter the airport through to when boarding their flight, according to a senior government official: “the concept of gates and passport corridor will be gone.”

The airport-wide system will confirm their biometric data, identity them and officially register their arrival or departure with passport control.

“We have all the travellers’ data; we have all the citizens’ and residents’ data,” explained Khaled bin Madia Al Falasi, Deputy Assistant Director for Smart Services at the Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

“Today, we are taking all their data, collecting their biometric prints as they pass through the airport, getting off the plane, getting their luggage, and getting into the car – so that he or she doesn’t feel like there’s any border control.”

The advanced Travel Without Borders program “will be implemented in partnership with airlines and other parties” and launched “very soon” at Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central, Al Falasi told Gulf News.

The airport-wide network of facial-recognition cameras linked to AI would begin with first class and business class passengers, he added, delivering them a “seamless” travel experience as they move through the terminal’s departure and arrival halls, he added, before being extended to all travellers.

First-time visitors to Dubai airports will have to complete an app-based “pre-registration process” before arrival, Al Falasi said.

“We will do a match the first time upon entry, and then they can use the (Travel Without Borders) system.”