‘Happy Flow’ project launched at Aruba Airport – first airport in the world to provide 100% self-service passenger experience
By Anika in Business opportunities, Free Zone Aruba News, Members on 02. Jun, 2015No Comments
Last week the Aruba Happy Flow Project was launched at Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport. Aruba’s Airport is the first airport in the world to provide a 100% self-service passenger experience. This pilot project makes it possible to use biometrics as a key identifier at the airport checkpoints. The checkpoints use facial recognition technology to identify passengers at check-in, bag drop, border control and aircraft boarding.
The pilot project will run for two years. Prime Minister Mike Eman said: “It marks an important step in the transportation industry for passengers, not only for Aruba, but worldwide”.
The Aruba Happy Flow project is a successful result of a collaboration between the Government of Aruba, the Government of the Netherlands, Aruba Airport Authority, Schiphol Group and KLM. The Portuguese company, Vision-Box, selected after a tender process, implemented the project successfully.
Miguel Leitmann, Senior Vice-President of Vision-Box, said, “Having initially accepted the challenge in 2013, Vision-Box is truly proud of the inauguration of the first 100% self-service passenger flow based on passenger-centric biometric technology. This amazing pilot, result of an exceptional collaborative effort, represents the onset of a new era in the Aviation Industry, reshaping the future of identification processes and passenger experience not only in airports, but at borders around the world”.
Jos Nijhuis, CEO and President of Schiphol Group said: “Aruba Happy Flow is another milestone in creating a sustainable knowledge economy in Aruba and fortifying the development of Aruba as a hub. Together we have made an innovative step to further improve the comfort for the passenger. This is a unique project where amongst others the public and private passenger processes are combined. I have high expectations of the results. If the experience and test results are positive, we will further develop this project.”
Limited numbers of KLM passengers travelling with an EU passport will be invited to participate in the Happy Flow project.
The pre-clearance initiative between Aruba and The Netherlands represents a step towards cooperation between countries to exchange intelligence and improve security. The aim is to ensure that a passenger departing from Aruba to the European Union is pre-cleared before take-off.
Aruba is very proud to launch this unique concept. It is an important step in developing the Gateway.