Airport Business

MAY 2014

The airport professional's source for airport industry news, articles, events, and careers.

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TECH TRENDS 24 airportbusiness May 2014 Airports, airlines and the CBP have collab- orated to roll out such kiosks in phases. Phase I, which began in May 2013, was open to U.S. citizens only; Phase II expanded eligibility to Canadian citizens in November 2013; while Phase III opened eligibility to visitors from the 38 countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program in January. The way the kiosks work—for Phase I and II—is instead of presenting a declaration card and their travel documents to a CBP officer, pas- sengers proceed directly to a self-service kiosk to answer the required questions. Once complete, the passengers take a receipt and present it to a CBP official for verification. Phase III kiosks oper- ate a little differently in that they add biometrics scans, such as facial recognition and fingerprint matching, to the customs registration process. Those airports participating in Phase I and II already report marked improvement since adding the kiosks. Average wait times at JFK's Terminal 4 were cut in half after installing 40 kiosks in October 2013. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport saw similar results after adding kiosks. Before installing this technology, passengers waited more than an hour for customs clear- ance. "That was just unacceptable to us," says William Flowers, DFW vice president and CIO. "We weren't in the Top Five that were getting the most news coverage, but we were in the Top 10." DFW added 30 kiosks in October 2013 for U.S. and Canadian travelers. "Today our wait times for U.S. and Canadian passengers is basically zero," Flowers says. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport successfully added GCR Inc.'s APC kiosks in January. "It was supposed to be a soft launch, but everything was working so well, the airport director gave us the go-ahead to let all U.S. and Canadian citizens run through on the first day," says Phillip Brodt, vice president and general manager, GCR. "We did 2,500 passengers that first day and now average more than 5,000 a day." Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) has used kiosks since discovering in 2009 that the bor- der clearance process left a little to be desired. The airport partnered with the Canada Border Services agency to develop its own APC solution, BorderXpress. "This solution allows eligible cus- tomers to clear customs four times more quickly while still ensuring the same high standard of safety and security," says Craig Richmond, presi- dent and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. YVR made its kiosks available to U.S. airports, and to date they have been adopted by Chicago O'Hare and Midway international airports, JFK, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. "In the first 40 days of operation, Chicago O'Hare's kiosk users took just four minutes to pass through customs, while non-kiosk users spent 38 min- utes," says Richmond. "Peak wait times there were reduced by 33 percent for all passengers." How can a simple kiosk lead to shorter wait times? Easy. When DFW considered adding kiosks, they examined the process, looked at how things were segregated between international and domestic passengers, reviewed the Global Entry program, and then looked at their hall to develop a solution. They decided to create 10 rows consisting of three kiosks each. "Passengers walk in, spot an open area, and use the kiosk, which prevents building a queue," says Flowers. "We made sure it was open-ended so that peo- ple could just walk up to an available machine. That was a major, major change because it's just human nature for people to get into a queue and wait for the next person to move." SITA's Farrell underscores the importance of this change by saying: "If it took 60 seconds to WHY GLOBAL ENTRY WASN'T ENOUGH THE U.S. Customs and Border Protection program allows expedit- ed clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival to the United States. Participants can use automated kiosks to move through customs more quickly. These travelers must be pre-approved and undergo a rigorous background check and interview before enrollment. "Global Entry really is for pre-registered travelers. You have to be vetted, you have to pay your fee, and provide credentials to participate. For a frequent business traveler, that makes a lot of sense," says Phillip Brodt, vice president and general manager, GCR Inc. "But it's only designed for those travelers vetted in advance." Passengers use the kiosk to scan travel documents, answer declaration questions and confirm their flight information, then walk up to a CBP agent for final approval. A single person can get through this process within 20 to 40 seconds. airb_22-25_TechTrendsCustoms.indd 24 5/2/14 9:51 AM

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