It is the dream of any traveler in a hurry.
No longer having to take out his plane ticket, his identity document, no longer waiting for the hostess to check the documents and for the machine to scan ... Now, at Orly airport, passengers only have to to show their faces to a camera to make open the doors and pass the controls in an ultra-fast way.
The name of the device?
Facial recognition upon boarding.
Orly airport has been testing this new process since Thursday, March 18, after a year of delay due to Covid-19.
Only flights to Morocco with the company Transavia are concerned for the moment.
They have the advantage of not being complete and thus allow the system to run smoothly.
Then, in two months, the experiment will gain momentum with flights of more than 200 Air Caraïbes passengers to the French overseas departments and territories.
How it works ?
When the passenger arrives at the airport, he must first register his face at a dedicated terminal: he takes off his mask, his glasses and his cap, looks at the small camera above the screen which takes a picture. his face.
Then the traveler registers his identity document and his plane ticket.
It was the "longest" stage.
“It actually only takes a few tens of a second,” ADP said, after observing the first passengers using the system last Thursday.
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From now on, you no longer need to take out your identity document.
"At the luggage drop-off, the terminal will recognize the face of the traveler, who will only have to scan his luggage tag, put his suitcase on the carpet and that's it," says ADP.
Staff are always nearby if needed: oversized luggage, technical problem, etc.
"I thought it would be more complex"
In the boarding lounge, the same scenario: the passenger takes off his mask, looks at the camera and the doors open to allow him access to the plane.
ADP recognizes that this system "is for people with a little autonomy".
“But I thought it would be more complex, admits a Transavia flight attendant, who attended the first tests.
The passengers spontaneously headed for the terminal and it was very fast.
There is a real saving of time.
They especially appreciate not having to take out all their documents again and again to get on board.
"
On the other hand, some travelers have voluntarily turned away from the machine, immediately refusing the idea of entrusting their biometric data.
“However, this data is automatically deleted as soon as the plane takes off,” says ADP.
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Facial recognition has also been tested since October at Lyon airport by its manager Vinci Airports.
The modus operandi is a little different there.
The system, which takes the form of a smartphone application called Mona, asks passengers to prepare their journey in a few clicks at their home, by taking a selfie, by scanning their identity document and their boarding pass.
Once at the airport, the application guides the traveler to the right counter, then the glass doors, reserved for “Mona” travelers, open automatically, allowing them to access the boarding area.
This then allows, as in Orly, to cross through its face the various airport checkpoints, outside border control.
Vinci highlights a gain of 30 minutes per passenger for boarding formalities.
