Aeroporti di Puglia, in collaboration with the Border Police, have activated eGates at Bari and Brindisi airports. In Bari there are 3 eGate stations in the non-Schengen arrivals area, 2 in Brindisi in the non-Schengen arrivals area and 3 in the non-Schengen departures area.
What are they:
eGates are an innovative technology, increasingly popular in major international hubs, which allow for fully automated passport control procedures. They guarantee the highest levels of security at security checkpoints, and reduce passenger waiting times, which benefits the overall quality of the travel experience.
How they work:
Travellers present themselves at an automated gate and place their open passport in a scanner, so that it passes the access control. A camera then captures an image of his or her face and compares it with the image contained in the passport chip.
In the event of a favourable outcome, the gate opens. If not, it will be necessary for the traveller to proceed through the passport control operated by a Border Police Agent.
From a more technical point of view, the passenger's data and facial recognition are checked instantaneously, as each machine works in direct connection with the Ministry of Interior databases.
The equipment autonomously carries out a series of checks in a few seconds to verify the authenticity and integrity of documents, analyses the biometric parameters of the face and fingerprints (if necessary and only for Italian passengers) and verifies that there are no reasons preventing transit.
To use the Egates you need to have an e-passport (identifiable by the small chip depicted at the bottom of the cover of the document) and be at least 14 years of age.
A single Egate is able to process thousands of passengers a day, with an average of about 20 seconds to check each passenger, thus reducing the time compared to traditional control by about 50%.