Biometrics vs. Passports

Australia’s international airports have started implementing the “Seamless Traveler” project, a system aimed at automating up to 90 percent of air traveler processing by 2020. Utilizing biometric identification technologies — including face recognition, iris scanning and fingerprints — instead of passports, manual processes will be greatly reduced, enabling fast, seamless self-processing for the vast majority of travelers while allowing border control to focus on passengers of interest.

The program will be piloted in July in Canberra, a relatively small airport that receives a limited number of international flights from New Zealand and Singapore. By November, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection hopes to roll out the technology to at least one major airport, with nationwide implementation scheduled for March 2019.

Australia is not unique in its attempt to meet national security challenges through the novel use of technology. Similar systems have been introduced in the United States at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Dulles International Airport with an unspecified timeline for expanding to other areas of the country.