Orlando airport first in U.S. to use biometric exit for all international flights

By October, outbound international passengers at Orlando International Airport will no longer need to show their boarding passes or passports at their departure gates.

Instead, they will look into a camera that will scan their face and merge both the boarding verification and U.S. government biometric departure check in one expedited process.

Known as Smart Path, the facial-recognition system has been created by SITA, which will provide the hardware, technology and professional services to operate it at 30 international boarding gates across the airport.

The decision to deploy Smart Path for all international departures at the airport comes after SITA completed a trial of the technology with British Airways, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During that test, SITA says British Airways has been able to simultaneously conduct boarding and secure biometric exit checks for about 240 people in just 15 minutes.

“Our decision to implement biometric exit checks across the whole airport follows a hugely successful live trial,” says John Newsome, chief information officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

“The innovative boarding process we tested is really popular with passengers. They simply look at the camera, and within seconds the gate opens and they can board the flight. It is easy, fast and, most importantly, secure. The solution works on common-use boarding gates and can be easily used by the many international airlines that we serve at MCO.”

About six million passengers board international flights from the Orlando airport every year.