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.

FMI: www.arinc.com