Dubai airport takes 10 seconds to check passport

DUBAI: After a long flight, one of the last things the passenger have to do is wait around to get through passport control at any airport, but Dubai has introduced a new way of checking to cut down waiting time from minutes to seconds.

The new system is already fully installed in Terminal 3 at Dubai International, while Terminals 1, 2 and Al Maktoum International Airport are expected to be ready by end of the year. A passenger pre-approval system that checks air travellers before they fly is speeding up checks to as little 10 seconds. This will mean clearance checks by Dubai immigration staff that previously took three minutes could now take as little as 10 seconds, according to the official of Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA).

General director assistant of the Dubai Airport Immigration Department Brigadier Talal Ahmad informed the UAE based newspaper Gulf News that the new system will vet travellers 48 hours before they fly to process them more quickly upon arrival at passport control.

The new measures are designed to reduce queue times as Dubai International and Al Maktoum prepare to welcome more passengers each year. Passenger numbers at Dubai International, the world’s busiest airport for international traffic, rose 5.5 per cent to 88.2 million in 2017. The airport is expected to return to double-digit growth in the next two years, according to the Dubai airport media release.