[February 19, 2014] |
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'Land, Touch and Go' - Orlando Airport First to Offer Fast-Track Clearance to International Travelers
ORLANDO --(Business Wire)--
Orlando International Airport is the first to offer international
travelers from visa waiver countries the option to 'land, touch and go',
using SITA's
Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks to self-process for faster
US border clearance. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA)
announced today that arriving passengers from 37 visa waiver countries
can now enjoy quick and easy processing at US customs and immigration.
Orlando is the only airport in the United States to use these high-tech
biometric kiosks which allow international travelers, from countries
that participate in the U.S. visa waiver program, to self-process into
the US. Ten biometric APC (News - Alert) kiosks are now available for US citizens,
Canadians and visa waiver travelers to complete their Customs
Declaration form on a touch-screen, have their passports scanned and
fingerprints and photograph taken prior to, and in preparation for,
their interview with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officer.
The pre-processing these kiosks perform significantly reduces the time
to complete the clearance process.
Phil Brown, Executive Director of the Greater Orlando Aviation
Authority, said: "These kiosks are the first to go live for
international travelers arriving in the USA and are a great addition to
Orlando International Airport. We have a growing number of wide-body
aircraft arriving within 90 minutes of each other every afternoon and 90
percent of travelers are arriving from visa waiver countries. Since we
installed these new kiosks we have seena dramatic increase in the total
number of travelers processed per minute."
Paul Houghton, SITA President, Americas, said: "This is another great
improvement in the 'Orlando Experience', the airport's initiative to
improve customer satisfaction. SITA specializes in using innovative
technology to improve the passenger experience at airports around the
world. Innovation in border management is a win-win situation. This
change is expected to save millions of dollars for the government and
the USA travel and tourism industry."
The iBorders™
solution implemented by SITA in partnership with Vision-Box (News - Alert)®
automatically verifies and validates the passenger's travel documents,
checks flight information, captures an ICAO-compliant face image and up
to 10 fingerprints, as well as obtaining the customs declaration data
required by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP). This
full process can be completed in 90 seconds or less. At the end of the
self-service process, travelers receive a receipt to be presented to the
CBP officer for the final clearance, at a fast-track dedicated lane.
The kiosks are complimentary to use and do not require registration in
advance; however, travelers must have previously entered the U.S. and
have fingerprints on file with CBP. They are designed with the passenger
experience in mind. They have intuitive, user-friendly interfaces, clear
instructions and feedback, combined with quick proactive adjustments for
each passenger including adjusting automatically to their height.
SITA is in discussions with international airports across the USA to
install these kiosks as quickly as possible to help reduce the unwelcome
waiting times which international travelers have experienced in recent
years.
A paper outlining the efficiencies that Phase III APC Kiosks can deliver
is available here.
Follow SITA online:
Twitter (News - Alert): http://twitter.com/SITANAM
Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/sitaonline
SITA photos and videos available here:
http://www.sita.aero/content/sita-logos-and-image-library

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