Airport Tech: Paving the way for greater travel efficiency?

It’s a situation all too many people have been in before. Landing tired and bleary-eyed, trying to get to your final destination only to have to endure even more waiting around at another airport.

Unfortunately queues and delays are simply part & parcel of most travellers’ airport experiences these days but things have changed in more recent times thanks to certain advances in technology.

Online booking and electronic check-in has made life a lot easier for many holidaymakers but can the latest types of airport machines help cut down airport waiting times even more?

Airport Security: Could it be a thing of the past?

Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world employs a special electronic passport gate allowing European passport holders to scan their passport details and then biometrically compare their face to that of the photo stored. This automated entry system is still developing and has a few issues to overcome but it’s a great step forward in enabling travellers to move a lot faster through the airport.

Whilst tech companies work hard to create new and innovative ways in which we can travel through an airport safely and more speedily than ever before other companies are concentrating on helping travellers bypass the queues altogether.

Perhaps replicating the success of Heathrow, Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport have also been quick to utilise the latest technology to help their passengers.

After teaming up with leading payment kiosk suppliers Cammax, the airport has installed a number of fast track payment kiosks allowing passengers to upgrade to security fast track when they arrive at the airport. This gives them the opportunity of at least shortening some of their departure day waiting time.

Automation like this is undoubtedly effective, however due to high risk security issues and other fears relating to terrorism, immigration and other factors it’s not necessarily going to work flawlessly on all counts.

Security scanning systems are also evolving with improved scanning techniques that allow airport security to swiftly scan, and x-ray passengers and luggage in a more effective way. However even this has been met with controversy relating to privacy due to the way in which full body scans provide an almost too detailed anatomical x-ray of passengers.