Commercial Biometric Screening Service Gaining Momentum
The nation's first biometric
security screening service for airline crewmembers accessed more
than 41,000 times between January and March of this year, allowing
Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) to identify commercial
airline pilots and send them directly to their flights. It was the
busiest quarter for ARINC's CrewPASS since its introduction in
2008.
The system was developed in response to a 2007 Congressional
mandate requiring the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
to support expedited security screening for airline crews. To date,
the TSA has not selected a final clearance method, but CrewPASS has
been deployed by ARINC for operational testing at three airports,
and it is in daily use by Transportation Security Officers.
Since its introduction, CrewPASS has cleared crewmembers for
expedited boarding more than 350,000 times.
"The CrewPASS system has been in operation for nearly three
years and has operated flawlessly during that entire time," stated
Tim Ryan, ARINC CrewPASS Program Director. "We have spent much time
working with TSA and the airline community developing a nationwide
rollout plan that can provide value to the crewmembers, airlines,
and the TSA. While this service is still in a trial state, it has
proven extremely effective and reliable. We are looking forward to
the day in which CrewPASS becomes an essential part of our nation's
airport security system."
More than 60 airlines use the CrewPASS Service on a daily basis,
including 14 member airlines of the Air Transport Association
(ATA).
CrewPASS draws on three layers of secure data to positively
identify each airline employee while face-to-face with
Transportation Security Officers. It first checks each crewmember's
ID against the airline's database to verify current employment in
real time. That database then provides an electronic photo of the
employee for the TSO. Finally, it quickly scans an electronic
fingerprint of the individual to compare with an archived
fingerprint. This entire process typically takes less than eight
seconds.
The airports participating in the operational trial of CrewPASS
are Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
(BWI), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), and Columbia
Metropolitan Airport (CAE) in Columbia, Ohio.
In developing CrewPASS, ARINC leveraged the technology in its
highly successful Cockpit Access Security System (CASS), an airline
jumpseat security program used by over 100 air carriers.