Air transport IT specialist SITA has installed a series of automated passport control (APC) kiosks for passengers arriving at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has approved the APC kiosks for the collection and verification of passenger facial and fingerprint biometrics against their passports. This means that the kiosks can be used to process any passenger from the USA, Canada, or any of the 38 visa waiver countries without any pre-enrollment.
Passengers use a touch screen to complete the customs declaration form and the system automatically verifies and validates their travel documents, checks flight information, and captures an International Civil Aviation Organization-compliant (ICAO) face image and up to 10 fingerprints. The full procedure can be completed in 90 seconds or less. At the end of the self-service process, travelers receive a receipt to be presented to the CBP officer for the final clearance at a fast-track dedicated lane.
Rosemary Vassiliadis, director for the Clark County Department of Aviation, the airport operator, said, “Customer service is critically important to us at McCarran Airport because we know the majority of our passengers choose to come here even though there are other places they could have visited.
“We believe providing a great airport experience upon arrival will inspire those travelers to choose to visit us again in the future. The addition of these kiosks gives our customers another option to expedite their entry into the USA, and more quickly begin to experience all Las Vegas has to offer. We are pleased to have worked with SITA and CBP to bring these time-saving kiosks to McCarran’s port of entry.”
Paul Houghton, SITA president, Americas, commented, “The APC kiosks that we have supplied to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas are just the first step in a journey to use innovative technology to improve the passenger experience at customs and border control. Looking ahead we are investigating how mobile applications could be used for passport control and other border checks, with the aim of improving passenger facilitation while ensuring security levels are maintained.”