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In a significant move to enhance the travel experience, select passengers at Dubai International Airport can now proceed through immigration without pausing for traditional identity checks. This advancement is part of a newly launched initiative by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) – Dubai, introduced during the ongoing Dubai AI Week.
The new initiative, called ‘Unlimited Smart Travel’, is currently available in the First and Business Class lounges at Terminal 3. It integrates state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technologies, including facial recognition, to perform identity verification seamlessly and without the need for physical documents.
According to the GDRFA, the goal of this service is to align with the Directorate’s vision of enhancing the quality of life for travelers while streamlining the travel process. In an official statement, the GDRFA described the system as a “qualitative leap” in smart mobility, emphasizing its role in building trust in digital systems, increasing the number of travelers processed simultaneously, and improving both customer and staff satisfaction by reducing the number of service steps.
During the AI Innovations Conference, held on Tuesday, GDRFA Director General Lt Gen Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri highlighted the technology upgrades, which he said make the immigration process up to ten times faster—although further technical details were not disclosed.
A senior GDRFA official elaborated that the development of this system was informed by insights gained from the Smart Tunnel initiative launched in 2020. Leveraging that data, the current system can identify individuals more efficiently, enabling up to 10 passengers to clear immigration together in just 14 seconds—without the need to wait for their turn.
This next-generation technology allows for group processing, moving away from the traditional one-by-one approach. It relies entirely on facial recognition, drawing from a database of pre-registered biometric data, eliminating the need for passports or boarding passes during the process.
The designated lounge areas are now equipped with an array of cameras capable of capturing facial data from various angles. This advancement comes at a crucial time, as authorities anticipate an 8% increase in passenger traffic. Currently, the service is offered exclusively to departing passengers, but there are plans to extend it to arriving travelers in the near future. Once registered, passengers' biometric data will be stored for future travel, making subsequent trips even faster and more convenient.
‘Unlimited Smart Travel’ closely aligns with the broader goals of the ‘Travel Without Borders’ project that was introduced at GITEX Global 2024. Both initiatives reflect Dubai’s continued commitment to pioneering smart travel technologies and enhancing global mobility through innovation.
Dubai Airport, one of the world’s busiest hubs, has already processed over 700 million passengers, and this latest advancement sets a new benchmark in the future of international air travel.
