CHECKPOINT OF THE FUTURE SHINES A BRIGHT SPOTLIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY AS A GAME-CHANGER IN STREAMLINING SECURITY AND THE PASSENGER JOURNEY. WHAT WILL MAKE IT A REALITY?

ISSUE3:2012

AIR TRANSPORTIT REVIEW ARTICLE

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“At the same time, it’s part of our vision for passenger travel: a seamless experience from curb to curb. Importantly, security technologies and new processes will take away the burden found with current checkpoints.”

AMBITIOUSAIMSThese are ambitious aims, given the task of physically screening and clearing the identity and physical status of 2.5 billion people a year – not to mention the 16 billion air travelers projected by IATA for 2050.

Yet momentum and commitment are bringing about the reality, according to Dunlap. “We’ve spent this year ensuring that the roadmap for Checkpoint of the Future is based on a broad cross-section of the industry.

ENABLINGTECHNOLOGIESDunlap regards biometrics as evolutional to checkpoints.

“In the intermediate and long term biometrics will play a key role alongside passenger data. Your boarding pass will be your fingerprint or other biometric for the entire journey, including the checkpoint. That will be combined with passenger pre-screening, and the use of the pre-screening decision at security checkpoints.”

Over 55 states collect passenger information today, almost exclusively for customs and immigration purposes. The challenge is to use that information earlier in the journey. For Checkpoint of the Future, it enables passengers to be differentiated based on their level of risk. They can then be processed according to the categories of trusted traveler, normal or enhanced security.

The rate at which technology is adopted will depend on the maturity or sophistication of a country’s existing border security infrastructure.

PIVOTALPOINT“Certainly, future checkpoints will be a pivotal point for passenger risk assessment and identity management technologies,” says Dan Ebbinghaus, Vice President, Government and Security Solutions at SITA.

The critical enablers are biometrics for identity management and advance risk assessment using captured passenger biographic data. This covers everything from e-Passports for identity authentication to confirming identities and transmitting that to a future checkpoint.

Thanks to self-service and the removal of costly and inflexible legacy processes, StB and its more recent Fast Travel initiatives have ushered in an enhanced experience for passengers.

But self-service and new thinking have yet to fully impact security and customs. As the main pain point for today’s travelers, these areas are rife for radical improvement.

PREPAREFORTOMORROWEnter Checkpoint of the Future. In the words of Ken Dunlap, IATA’s Director for Security and Travel Facilitation: “Checkpoint of the Future aims to prepare today’s and tomorrow’s checkpoints for future threats.

“It’s a collaborative process across aviation. To plot the way forward, we see airports working with airlines, with manufacturers, with regulators and with other stakeholders.

“Our advisory group includes governments, airlines, airports and expert groups. It’s not an IATA initiative; it’s an industry initiative,” he adds.

ROADMAPIATA, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Airports Council International have put forward a roadmap establishing 2014, 2017 and 2020 as key years for evolution in checkpoints.

“By the end of 2013, we’ll have tested additional processes and technologies to create a menu of options: 2014 will see the first prototype checkpoint,” says Dunlap.

“But we must remember that Checkpoint of the Future is not one size fits all.”

Short term, the roadmap cites approaches to optimize existing infrastructure to enhance security and the passenger experience. Mid-term, as procurement lifecycles dictate, it offers guidance to countries as they begin to embrace new checkpoint technologies and equipment.

“We think that states around the world will be able to use the next three to five years to put in place key elements such as Known Traveler Programs, where the checkpoint leverages passenger data that is either already being collected by governments or is submitted voluntarily by passengers” says Dunlap.

“Looking to 2020 and beyond, with that passenger data at the checkpoint, we expect all the technology to be in place, enabling stand-off screening of individuals – that is, screening of people on the move to make checkpoints ‘touchless’.”

A QUICK WALK THROUGH THE CHECKPOINT• The 2020 vision of the Checkpoint of the Future sees

passengers walking through a security screening system, where security and customs processing occurs in a transparent manner.

• The enabling IT includes identitymanagement and advancepassengerinformation.

• Passengers will be screened as either ‘known travelers,’ ‘normal’ or ‘enhanced security’ with an appropriate level of security screening.

• A biometric identifier in the passport or other travel document triggers the results of a risk assessment conducted by government before the passenger arrives at the airport.

• Each traveler’s risk level will be partly based on the confidence in their identity. Known travelers, who voluntarily agree to provide additional information and whose identity can be reliably verified, will use their pre-enrolled biometric, experiencing fastest transit time and a tailored screening process.

SELF-SERVICEANDNEWTHINKINGHAVEYETTOFULLYIMPACTSECURITYANDCUSTOMS.ASTHEMAINPAINPOINTFORTODAY’STRAVELERS,THESEAREASARERIFEFORRADICALIMPROVEMENT.

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“Biometrics will tell you who passengers are, eliminating any chance of identity fraud. Risk assessment of passenger biographic data in advance will enable you to make a decision about passengers before they arrive or depart - high risk, low risk, or somewhere in between,” says Ebbinghaus.

“In essence, a consolidation of data known on a passenger will determine the risk assessment, while the biometric data will make sure that assessment is applied to the right person once at the airport, including at the checkpoint.

“We also expect to see the increasing impact of airport passenger flow management capabilities, as they too play a critical role in processing passengers through each step of the journey,” he adds.

COOPERATIONOne thing is for sure: Checkpoint of the Future means busting any remaining siloed mentalities. In the complex environment of the airport, it demands that multiple stakeholders with conflicting requirements work together to deliver a new passenger experience.

IATA recognizes that one of the key steps is for states to align their passenger data collection systems. With personal information coming from multiple sources, the task is to gather this information together into an accessible format, so that governments can easily assess it and

airlines know whether or not to issue a boarding pass. Governments can also use this information to determine the level of screening to be applied to the passenger.

Encouraging indications of a wave of change in security checkpoints are also coming from progress in pre-checking in the US and Canada. “If you look at what’s happening in airports today, and what regulators are doing, they’re showing that they’re ready to evolve their checkpoints,” says IATA’s Dunlap.

Cooperation has also been fundamental to SITA’s own approach. The company’s iBorders Border Management solutions and related border services have been developed through working closely with IATA and in association with governments worldwide.

As future checkpoints become a hotspot for cutting edge security IT, the portfolio combines pre-departure risk assessment with true identity management, and ever evolving capabilities and technologies. In doing this, it provides an end-to-end solution leveraging the convergence of passenger biographic data and biometric technologies (see box).

POISEDTOGOHelping to drive it all is the Checkpoint of the Future advisory board, comprising a diverse cross section of stakeholder interests: airlines, airports, security

equipment manufacturers and governments among them.

Thanks to IATA’s new Checkpoint Roadmap, backed by the impending arrival of a menu of options and a blueprint checkpoint penciled in for 2014, the air transport industry is poised to move forward.

POWER THE REVOLUTIONThe pressure is on to revolutionize transportation security and border control. Cutting edge technology and advance passenger information, as components of Checkpoint of the Future, will power that revolution. That means better detection rates and the ability of the innocent majority of travelers to clear security screening, immigration and customs rapidly.

Securityandfacilitation–nocompromise

Combining pre-arrival risk assessment with true identity management, SITA’s iBorders portfolio improves security and facilitates faster passenger clearance.

The portfolio offers an end-to-end solution combining passenger biographic data and biometric technologies. It integrates identity verification and document authentication applications into the self-service environment – kiosks and gates.

Border control and transportation security solutions need:

• The ability to tighten security through improvedidentificationofpassengersofinterest, facilitating rapid border crossing of low-risk travelers.

• Biometricidentitymanagementintheairportenvironment. Used by border management agencies, security authorities, airlines and airports – this improves security and passenger facilitation by automating identity checks using biometrics. When combined with biographic data checks, it enables the association and verification of an identity with a travel document across a traveler’s journey.

• The ability for governments to perform riskassessmentofpassengerspriortotheirarrivalordeparture. This means acquiring API (Advance Passenger Information), APP (Advance Passenger Processing), PNR (Passenger Name Record) and DCS (Departure Control System) data from carrier reservations and departure control systems. Any service must normalize, check, filter and submit the data in formats and at times required by governments, facilitating the tools to turn this data into meaningful intelligence to determine the level of risk posed by the passenger.

As IATA’s Dunlap says: “With this level of commitment, the political will, which is now there, and significant regulators committed to moving the bar forward, we’ve got the critical mass to bring Checkpoint of the Future closer to reality.”

Fullstoryonlineatwww.sita.aero/content/air-transport-it-review-issue-3-2012

“IT’SACOLLABORATIVEPROCESSACROSSAVIATION.TOPLOTTHEWAYFORWARD,WESEEAIRPORTSWORKINGWITHAIRLINES,WITHMANUFACTURERS,WITHREGULATORSANDWITHOTHERSTAKEHOLDERS.”

KENDUNLAPDIRECTORFORSECURITYANDTRAVELFACILITATION,IATA

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