SITA, technology provider for the air transport industry, announced its most extensive biometric deployment to date at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), offering a completely contactless experience for passengers traveling through the Chinese capital, a press release confirmed. 

The deployment included 600 biometric checkpoints through the airport, including 250 lanes of automatic gates, 80 kiosks, and 30 self-bag drop stations for passengers from international flights. From an airport efficiency view, the solutions have improved capacity and created a low-touch (paperless) environment for all, whilst allowing staff to focus on passengers who need guidance whilst travelling. 

BCIA is feeling the benefits of improved passenger processing, enhanced passenger experiences and increased safety and security, thanks to a fully automated passenger journey using SITA technology. Passengers only need to enrol once during check-in, then cruise through bag drop, immigration, security and boarding by facial recognition. Improved processing efficiency means shorter queuing time and more social distancing for all passengers. 

SITA Smart Path has already proven this by speeding up passenger processing at BCIA, handling over 400 passengers boarding an Airbus A380 in less than 20 minutes. Beyond passenger processing, SITA Smart Path enables hands-free and touchless Duty-Free payment, removing the need to retrieve and show a boarding pass at check out and significantly improving the customer experience at a time when airports need increased revenue. 

“Automation is more important than ever in this COVID-19 environment to better enable social distancing and passenger flow without compromising processing times. The BCIA implementation is our most comprehensive deployment of next-generation technology and signposts growing interest from the market to automate and optimise airport operations through smart technology,” Sumesh Patel, SITA’s President of APAC, expressed in a statement. 

With Duty-Free shopping now also optimised by SITA’s Smart Path, Patel said they are  beginning to uncover the full potential of biometrics to boost passenger safety, convenience and confidence, in turn helping the air transport industry to recover and evolve.

BCIA is the largest airport in China, with passenger volume exceeding 100 million between 2018 and 2020. It is positioned as the international hub airport in the overall design of the Jing-Jin-Ji airports group. To date, it serves 31 domestic airlines and 62 foreign airlines, with 133 international routes, and 161 domestic routes, the release noted.