On Monday, 18 September, Singapore passed several reforms to the Immigration Act, including end-to-end biometric screening of Changi Airport passengers.

This means that travellers will no longer be required to show their passport, ticket, and boarding pass when passing through the airport’s numerous checkpoints.

Biometrics would be used for verification at several automated points in the departure process, from bag drop through immigration and boarding,

Singapore’s Minister for Communications, Josephine Teo, said the forthcoming changes will “reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at touch points and allow for more seamless and convenient processing.”

At immigration checkpoints, Changi Airport already employs biometric technology and face recognition software to some extent. However, Teo stated that the impending adjustments will “reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at touch points and allow for more seamless and convenient processing.”

Teo also stated that passports are still necessary for visitors from countries other than Singapore that do not provide passport-free processes.

Singapore Changi Airport was named the “Best Airport” for the 12th time in March 2023, and it has received hundreds of accolades for innovation, design, and overall effectiveness.

Facial recognition technology is already in use to different extents at the following airports: Hong Kong International Airport, Tokyo Narita Airport, Tokyo Haneda Airport, Indira Gandhi International Airport, London Heathrow Airport, and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

In October 2022, Dubai International Airport launched a biometric path where passengers would go through a tunnel to capture their biometric data.

The post Singapore’s Changi Airport To Be Passport Free From 2024 appeared first on Travel Daily Media.

Author: Joe Cusmano

First published on Travel Daily Media

Istanbul: Istanbul Airport ranked first in Europe in terms of the average number of daily flights during the period of July 22-28, with 1,327 flights.

According to a report issued by the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) on Saturday regarding flights between July 22-28, Istanbul Airport exceeded the French Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by the number of flights in the mentioned period.

Antalya Airport had 942 daily flights in the mentioned period, ranking eighth in Europe, the report stated.

Istanbul Airport also topped the list of airports in terms of the number of passengers during the month of June, with around 5,996,000 passengers.

This came according to a report issued by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE) on air traffic in Q2 of 2022, indicating that passenger traffic through European airports in the first half of this year increased by 247 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

The post Istanbul Airport ranked first in Europe with 1,327 daily flights appeared first on Kuwait Times.

via Kuwait Times https://ift.tt/zHd2tMq

The European Commission has proposed a return to the pre-Covid 80:20 ‘use it or lose it’ airport slot rule in the coming winter season, but with exceptions in the case of significant air-travel disruption.

Greece is the only country in the European Union that recorded an increase in commercial flights in June, compared to the same month in 2019, according to recent data released by Eurostat.