Dubai Airport is planning a three-pronged approach to ease passenger flow, reduce the need for queuing and save time.
Biometric Iris Scan System
At present, visitors to Dubai need to wait in a queue at the airport and go through an eye scan, which is a mandatory security check procedure. But soon they will have to do this only on their first visit to Dubai.
Under the new proposed system, passengers' biometric data (iris and facial recognition features) will be recorded and stored automatically on their first entry through Dubai Airports.
From their second visit onwards they will not need to go through an eye scan again as the new system will complete the eye scan while passengers are walking through the passport control counter.
Smart Gates
Citizens and residents passing through Dubai Airports terminals will be able to access a total of 122 Smart Gates spread across four airports. Not just Emiratis and UAE residents but passport holders of certain countries and even foreigners who get visas-on-arrival will be eligible to register their biometric passports at the passport control counter and use Smart Gates.
Smart Tunnel
Passengers will simply have to walk through the Smart Tunnel without showing or scanning their travel document. The tunnel is currently in a trial phase at Terminal 3 of Dubai airport where it facilitates passport control procedure within 10 seconds. Currently, it is open to business and first class passengers only.
Together the automated biometric iris scan system, smart gates and a smart tunnel are systems that will enable a faster flow of passengers at the Dubai airports.