McCarran International Airport has become the latest airport to deploy Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks.The technology, which is being used by the airport's international passengers, is designed to provide a quick and smooth journey through customs and immigration.The self-service kiosks use a biometric and biographic data capture process using SITA technology. According to SITA, this allows passengers to provide their travel document biometric data and customs declaration prior to speaking to a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer. This increases efficiency and streamlines processes at the ports of entry as a CBP officer no longer needs to scan travellers' documents."Customer service is critically important to us at McCarran because we know the majority of our passengers choose to come here even though there are other places they could have visited," says Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation. "We believe providing a great airport experience upon arrival will inspire those travellers to choose to visit us again in the future. The addition of these kiosks gives our customers another option to expedite their entry into the US, and more quickly begin to experience all Las Vegas has to offer. We are pleased to have worked with SITA and CBP to bring these time-saving kiosks to McCarran's port of entry."Paul Houghton, SITA President, Americas, says: "The APC kiosks that we have supplied to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas are just the first step in a journey to use innovative technology to improve the passenger experience at customs and border control. Looking ahead, we are investigating how mobile applications could be used for passport control and other border checks, with the aim of improving passenger facilitation while ensuring security levels are maintained."SITA's APC kiosks have been approved by US Customs and Border Protection for data collection and verification of passenger facial and fingerprint biometrics against passengers' passports. This means that they can be used to process passengers from the US, Canada or any of the 38 visa waiver countries without pre-enrolment.Passengers use a touch screen to complete their customs declaration form, and the system automatically verifies and validates their travel documents, checks flight information, captures an ICAO-compliant face image, and for foreign nationals up to 10 fingerprints. The full procedure can be completed in 90 seconds or less. At the end of the self-service process, travellers receive a receipt that they present to the CBP officer for the final clearance at a fast-track dedicated lane.SITA has installed APC kiosks at airports across the US, including Boston, JFK New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Diego and Tampa.

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