In May Indra introduced a pilot system in the Barajas (Madrid) and Prat (Barcelona) airports, to give European citizens the ability to cross borders rapidly.

The system is called ABC System. Citizens present themselves at a kiosk, where the system guides them through the process that—very simply and in only a few seconds—reads their identity document automatically, verifies its authenticity and confirms their identify via the automatic recognition of their face and finger print. Once this process is completed, the passenger is granted entry. The facilities, and thus each of the individual processes that are carried out, are supervised by personnel from the Spanish National Police.

As opposed to other similar systems being used in other countries, which use only one biometric characteristic such as the iris, finger print or face to verify one’s identify, the Spanish system carries out a double biometric identification of both the face and finger print. This is in addition to verifying the authenticity of the ID provided. Further, it doesn’t require previous registration in any frequent traveler lists and is the only system in Europe that allows the use of a national ID card.

The project includes the installation of two types of facilities in each airport with different systems, in order to evaluate which is more comfortable for passengers and promises the highest level of security. Once the results are obtained, the project will be expanded in 2011 to include all Spanish airports that operate flights arriving from, or departing to, destinations outside of European airspace. This will encompass passport controls both to enter and exit the country.