18 new smart gates installed at Terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport

Dubai: Passengers at Terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport will pass passport control in seconds as 18 smart gates are now fully operational in the terminal, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) said in a statement.

Major-General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, director-general of GDRFA, said that 10 smart gates have been installed in the arrival area and eight in the departure area.

Speaking about the innovation, he added: “It is the face of the future, implemented for the first time in the world. Passengers will cross the gates smoothly and there will be no need to stand in queues to get the passport stamped. The smart gates ensure that each traveller will only spend seven to 10 seconds to pass through.”

With the installation of 122 new-generation smart gates at all terminals, about 2.6 million travellers used the smart gates this year (until May), compared to 2.1 million for the same period in 2017.

The GDRFA said the smart gates ensure travellers no longer have to stop at passport control in Dubai, home to one of the busiest airports in the world.

“There is an increase in the number of travellers using smart gates, which means more people have become more aware of using the gates.”

Equipped with the latest face-recognition software, the smart gates do away with the passengers’ personal encounters with passport control officers, clearing travellers with approved biometric, electronic passports or identification to walk straight to the baggage claim area after deplaning.

The GDRFA said that the smart gates will help welcome participants and visitors for Expo 2020, which will attract millions of visitors.

The ‘biometric border’ walkway takes a scan of people’s faces as they enter the airport and checks it against a digital passport using the face-recognition software.

“Travellers can walk through the smart gates by using their biometric passports, Emirates ID and smartphone after installing the UAE Wallet application,” Brigadier Talal Ahmad Al Shanqiti, assistant director-general of Airport Passport Sector, said.

The digital passport, created for the system, contains information from the electronic chip in physical passports, as well as additional details including fingerprints, iris scans and face-recognition data.

To pass through the gates, a passenger needs to scan his passport at the gate and look at the camera to scan his face.