Smart corridor in a month at Dubai airport

Dubai - The Smart Corridor system will save time and the hassle from passport control queues.

The Smart Corridor (tunnel) emigration system will initially be rolled out in the privileged passenger area at Dubai International Airport in a month's time, said Thani Al Zaffin, director-general, emaratech.
"We are launching Smart Corridor with no door. It is ready so we are just waiting for the physical position readiness. Initially, it will be introduced in privilege passenger area and for primary passengers. You just walk though it and you're cleared as it literally takes seconds. The technology captures facial feature use but it relies on Iris-on-the-move," Al Zaffin told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Airport Show, which is being held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Smart Corridor system will save time and the hassle from passport control queues because they will be able to just walk through the tunnel for immigration clearance.
He noted that a next-generation border control system has also been rolled out across most of the terminals. "This is the pre-clearance process. There are operational rooms at the airport that you don't see. Instead of having the border officers sitting on the counters, they are sitting in the back office and clearing the passengers," he added.
According to Al Zaffin, the immigration counter process has been reduced to six seconds compared to 40 seconds before, and it is achieved through data intelligence as 90 per cent of the passengers at Dubai International are pre-cleared.
"We are putting more analytics and trying to prioritise passengers to give them better treatment so that we can reach 60 per cent of passengers using self-service."
He said they are also going to pilot smart trolley project this year at the Dubai airport.
waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai