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TRAVEL NEWS

Frankfurt airport opens ‘biometric check-in’ for all passengers

Airport check-ins and boarding can be notorious for long queues. But Frankfurt airport said on Thursday it wants to eliminate those through its new biometric facial recognition system available to all passengers.

Published: 26 October 2023 16:04 CEST
Biometric gate at Hamburg
A biometric gate pictured at Hamburg's airport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt

Airport operator Fraport on Thursday presented the system, which has so far been reserved for guests of German airline Lufthansa and its affiliated Star Alliance (including United, Air China and Air India).

It said Frankfurt is now the first airport in Europe to offer the time-saving service to passengers of all airlines who register in advance for it. 

At the checkpoints, people’s faces are then scanned as they pass by, instead of checking identification papers, tickets or boarding passes each time.

The new technology is already in use by more than 12,000 passengers at check-in, boarding pass control and boarding gates throughout the airport.

READ ALSO: Reader Question: Can foreigners use the e-gates at German airports?

“Our goal is to equip at least 50 percent of all check-in machines as well as boarding pass control and departure gates with this groundbreaking technology in the next few months,” announced Pierre Dominique Prümm, Fraport Executive Board member responsible for infrastructure.

Dubbed the “Smart Path”, the technology Sita and the US provider NEC uses people’s individual facial characteristics. 

The service is also available at a few other major German airports, but only to Lufthansa and Star Alliance passengers. 

According to Sita, around 75 percent of guests prefer this contactless biometric method as it saves time that would otherwise be spent waiting in a queue.

However, conventional identification methods will continue to remain possible, the airport said.

Star Alliance passengers with Miles & More cards can permanently save their characteristics, while other passengers can register with their ID cards at specially installed machines for the booked flight only. 

The biometric data will be deleted three hours after the actual departure time, Fraport and Sita said.

Vocabulary

biometric data – (die) biometrische Daten

(to) equip – ausstatten

conventional identification methods – (die) herkömmliche Identifikationsverfahren

facial features – (die) Gesichtsmerkmale

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Published: 24 June 2024 16:57 CEST
Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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