Aviation ministry to launch biometric pass system for airport staff in 2019

To keep track of the movement of crew members, security personnel, airline staff and ground handling agents at airports, the ministry of civil aviation will be launching a biometric pass system in 2019, according to a government official familiar with the development.

Some airports have already started installing biometric card readers, the official added.

At present, airport staff carry plastic ID cards, called airport entry passes, for accessing restricted areas based on alphabetical codes. According to the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security, the new biometric passes will be “foolproof” and harder to replicate. This will create a mechanism for monitoring the movement of personnel at airports.

“Under the new system, the doors and access points will be released only to authorised personnel. Each entry/exit will be logged centrally for future reference,” the civil aviation ministry official quoted above said.

“The system is able to generate any level of information required on the persons available in the building at any given point of time...,” he said.

A BCAS official, requesting anonymity, said airport operators would have to install biometric card readers at entry/exit points of restricted areas before the system can be rolled out. There are also plans to have long range radio frequency readers that will identify vehicles upto a distance of 10 metres and allow them access to restricted areas. A ministry official familiar with the development said since airport/airline personnel are manually checked at present, there is a possibility of human error.