Fast-Track Screening
The Registered Traveler Pilot Program, a 14-month U.S. government project undertaken in conjunction with UNISYS and SITA, came to a close at the end of September 2005. The popular project had already been extended twice — far beyond its original 90-day operational period — attracting some 10,000 participants.
Through a competitive process, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) awarded contracts to two separate teams to implement the Registered Traveler Pilot at five major airports across the country.
Once background checks had been conducted, program participants were able to use the latest advances in iris and fingerprint recognition technologies to verify their identity at security checkpoints and benefit from a fast-track screening experience.
Indeed, SITA introduced the concept of multiple biometric checks into aviation security projects, improving accuracy and making passenger verification easier. SITA combines technologies with industry processes to meet government security requirements while simplifying passenger travel.
“We selected SITA for Registered Traveler because of its ability to deliver the right solution quickly,” says Larry Zmuda, partner for homeland security, Unisys Federal Government Group.
The Registered Traveler Pilot Program proved popular with passengers seeking relief from screening checkpoint delays at U.S. airports, with some 700 people enrolling for the service on the first day at Minneapolis airport and more than 2,000 registering within the first three days. When the pilot ended, the TSA recognized the project as a success, highlighting that it had “proven the viability of the Registered Traveler Program under real-world conditions,” according to the New York Times.
More than 60 U.S. airports have since expressed an interest in implementing a similar type of program in line with their shared goal of enabling the free flow within airports of travelers, shoppers and greeters — which will be a boost both for convenience and for airport retailers. This can be made possible through application of biometric technologies at the border and/or security checkpoint.
“Much has been said about the promise of ‘e-Passports,’ but we are not quite there yet,” says Thomas Marten, SITA’s vice president of government and security. “It will be many years before every country has equal capacity to issue all of its citizens with ‘e-Passports’ that conform to internationally accepted standards. But automated border control, or registered traveler type programs, offer enormous potential to simplify passenger travel for those who choose to participate in them.”
This way, as governments begin to deploy “e-Passports” to their citizens, their border management agencies can focus on those passengers who require more manual or more detailed screening, while others can benefit from far greater levels of automation and speed through security checkpoints and border crossings.
Today, SITA is working closely with industry bodies and the TSA to design how programs such as Registered Traveler would operate and prosper internationally.
