Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is testinga biometric authentication system for passengers who use electronic identitycards in the aviation security check process.

Accordingly, Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong was the first airport toinstall the testing equipment and software from February 1, 2023.

Cat Bi International Airport will pilot the use of a separate lane for domesticpassengers using electronic ID cards.

Up to now, the number of test passengers was 758, said ACV’s leader.

The number of recognised ID cards was 746, reaching 98.4%, and the rate of facerecognition by cameras was 100%.

Average time to read an ID card and boarding pass is approximately 15 secondsper passenger while the average time to process one passenger is 60 seconds, hesaid.

The test results showed that the system has effectively supported aviationsecurity forces in passenger control.

However, there are still some problems such as the slow speed of readingelectronic ID cards by the devices, especially for cards that are faulty, dirtyor with blurred codes.

With the use of the passenger authentication system for electronic ID cardholders, ACV will install electronic ID card reader devices and cameras atsecurity check points to match the passenger's face with the informationavailable in the ID cards.

VeriPAX software developed by ACV will display all information read from IDcards and itinerary information connected with the list of passengers who havechecked in to compare boarding passes with passenger flights.

VeriPAX also connects to a database of a list of those banned from flying ofthe Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) so as to quickly identifywhether the passenger is banned from flight or not.

In addition, the software has a warning feature in case passengers need to havetheir baggage visually checked as well as processing passengers using othertypes of identification papers.

At passenger security checkpoints, the aviation security officer will scanpassengers’ ID cards and boarding passes with specialised devices to match withpassengers’ faces.

The system authenticates ID cards and returns results of passenger informationverification, itinerary information, matches with the no-fly list or mandatoryvisual check and visual check-in baggage.

If the system records the information on the ID cards and the face imagematches the journey information, aviation officers will let the passengers moveinto the screening area.

Previously, CAAV coordinated with ACV to guide Van Don International Airport inQuang Ninh province and other relevant offices to deploy biometricauthentication upon arrival for Vietnamese citizens at airports.

Van Don International Airport will complete the pilot implementation ofpassenger biometric authentication by machine by the first quarter of this yearand report to CAAV.

After the pilot programme, the airport will officially implement the biometricauthentication for passengers before June 30.

At the same time, CAAV requested ACV to continue implementing the pilotprogramme in other airports.

ACV is also required to study technology options to handle situations such aspassengers doing self-check-in at kiosks or by phone as well as requestingtechnology solution providers to complete legal procedures and providesolutions to ensure the safety of passengers’ information.

The establishment of a connection system between the airports and the IDdatabase of the Ministry of Public Security aims to control passengers on domesticflights as well as prevent and promptly detect cases where passengers use fakedocuments or persons who are banned from flying./.