Air travellers have backed biometric security checks after a four-month trial of the passenger screening technology at London’s Heathrow airport.

Fingerprint and iris scans were used for screening more than 3,000 passengers who volunteered to take part in the trial on Cathay Pacific and Emirates flights to and from Dubai and Hong Kong.

The miSense trial was aimed at testing the feasibility of advanced passenger screening in the UK, which would allow the traveller’s details to be checked against various intelligence and immigration databases and ‘watch lists’ before being allowed to board a flight.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan “European Airport Security Equipment Market: Investment Opportunities” reveals that the European airport security market earned revenues (top 47 participants) of $2.37 billion in 2005 and estimates this to reach $10.35 billion in 2010.

The European airport security market looks set for robust growth, particularly in the wake of continued terrorist threats, new European Union (EU) airport security regulations, rising passenger traffic and the increasing need to upgrade installed security equipment, as well as integrate this with newly implemented technology.

Opportunities are particularly lucrative in the biometrics and explosive detection sub-segments, where small start-up companies offering innovative technologies can expect favourable financial backing from venture capitalist firms.

“While there are over 491 airports in Europe as of March 2006, another five to six airports are currently under construction with a plan for twenty other airports to be upgraded,” notes Frost & Sullivan Financial Analyst Rani Cleetez. “In addition, the privatisation of certain European airports will necessitate better security equipment, in order to meet the latest international security standards, as well as to ensure world class airport status.”

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Iris-based biometric technology has been rolled out to the last airport in the UK government’s program to tighten immigration security.

The Iris Recognition Immigration System (Iris) at Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal lets registered passengers enter the UK without queuing to see an immigration officer at passport control.

Air travellers enrolled in the scheme can walk up to an automated barrier, look into a camera and, if the system recognises them, enter the UK.

The biometric technology works by photographing and storing a passenger’s iris patterns in a database, along with their passport details and immigration status in the UK.

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Unisys Corporation has selected Fidelica Microsystems, Inc. and Abeo Corporation to deliver a biometric RFID badge to positively identify cargo drivers for their Wireless Personal Identification Credential (WPIC) project. The WPIC project, part of the Transportation Security Administration’s sponsored Airport Access Control Pilot Program (AACPP), will be conducted at the Washington Dulles International Airport. The contract is for the evaluation of technologies that could mitigate security vulnerabilities at airports. The AACPP will allow Unisys to identify the operational benefits achievable through increased use of biometrics, surveillance and other security measures.”We’re looking forward to working on this initiative to help strengthen security at United States airports,” said Tom Conaway, Unisys managing partner for homeland security. “As a long-time integrator and early entrant into the biometrics market, we’re ready to meet this security challenge with our partners and help TSA continue to employ leading technologies to protect the traveling public.”

This project will evaluate and demonstrate a wireless credential that would be used to verify the identities of truck drivers bringing loose cargo to an air cargo warehouse. “Conclusive identification of registered shippers is critical to transportation security,” said Robert Allen, Vice President of Business Development of Fidelica Microsystems Inc., a leading developer of ultra-sensitive fingerprint sensor technology. “Our fingerprint imaging technology was designed to enable biometric authentication in credentials as thin as a credit card.”

“Fidelica is the first vendor we’ve encountered who has successfully embedded a flexible fingerprint sensor into a badge format,” said Michael Borcherding, President of Abeo Corporation. “Beyond its technical merits, our badge was selected for its unique ability to authenticate users while protecting their identity and privacy.”

Unisys has worked with TSA for more than two years as the systems integrator for this pilot program, testing biometric technologies at 20 of the nation’s 429 commercial airports. AACPP is overseen by TSA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer. The WPIC project is in the final stages of its development and is scheduled to be demonstrated in the fall of 2006.

About Biometric Authentication

As airports work to satisfy the security expectations of its customers, employers and policy makers, biometrics is rapidly becoming the most practical and ubiquitous authentication method for conclusive identity verification. Technology advancements in imaging products, image processing, display, battery and RF hardware has allowed security vendors to embed these components in popular formats such as key FOBs, ID and access cards. Microprocessor advancements can now perform the entire biometric process in the user’s possession eliminating the need to share biometric information and, thereby, protecting individual’s identity.

Government green-lights “Advance Registration” as first step in nationwide rollout program – started in Orlando and powered by General Electric and Lockheed Martin technologies – to rollout in New York, San Jose, Cincinnati, Indianapolis with airport and airline support.

Clear®, the only service provider operating a registered traveler program at a U.S. airport, announced today that it is now accepting advance enrollment registrations online for four airports in the nationwide program. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which oversees the initiative and has worked for more than a year to establish the rules and processes for a national fully-interoperable program, authorized the first step in the national expansion of the program last week, allowing “advance registration,” while it completes the final steps necessary to launch the registered traveler lanes at these airports across the country this fall.

“We appreciate all of the long, hard work that the TSA team has done to make this a reality,” said Clear CEO Steven Brill. “Under the leadership of Secretary Chertoff and TSA head Kip Hawley, TSA has laid the foundation for a competitive, sustainable, secure program that will enhance security while increasing convenience for all travelers.

“We expect to begin in-person enrollments at these new airports by mid-October and to have our lanes operating at the security checkpoints about three weeks after that,” Brill added. “TSA is ninety-nine percent of the way there in completing the final approvals related to rules and processes that have long-since been decided on. So we expect to be able to keep to this schedule, especially that they have now given the go-ahead for this first part of the enrollment process.”

Applicants can begin the membership enrollment process at www.flyclear.com to use Clear at New York JFK International Airport British Airways Terminal 7, as well as San Jose, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati International Airports — all in addition to the Orlando Airport, where 27,000 members are now using the Clear lanes since operations began there in July 2005.

The “in person” portion of enrollment, where applicants have their biometric (fingerprint and iris) images captured, is currently available only at the Orlando Airport. Clear is now beginning installations of enrollment stations at the other airports and plans to bring mobile units to large corporate centers in all cities where registered traveler programs are available. More than 20 other airports across the country have told TSA that they want to launch registered traveler programs this year.

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