Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport begins fingerprint scanning in EU pilot program

A European Union pilot program is bringing new fingerprint-scanning security technologies to the continent's airports, beginning in Amsterdam. Schiphol Airport's Advanced Optical Systems (AOS) trial deployment replaces existing protocols in the TSA Precheck program, shaving precious minutes off of security check-ins for each passenger.

AOS business development director Christopher Centamore tells Tech Alabama:

"Instead of standing in a long line in the airport, waiting for that individual to look at everyone's individual driver's license and check their boarding pass, you just walk past, wave your hand in front of the device, and instantly you're identified as who you are, and that you're allowed to be there."

The fingerprint reader, a $25,000 device, is able to process 3,000 people per hour. While specific figures on the speed of existing TSA screenings isn't readily available, anyone who has ever waited in line to pass through security can tell you the current pace leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Germaphobes will be delighted to learn that the AOS scanners being deployed don't require passengers to actually touch a screen, but that information may simultaneously terrify technophobes. Simply waving ones hand through the reader captures all the information necessary. In a video demonstrating the impressive tech, passengers don't even need to stop walking.

Amsterdam joins U.S. airports in Denver and Palm Springs using fingerprint and even iris scanners to enhance security measures or outright replace boarding passes with biometric identification. The E.U.-AOS plan mirrors a similar program between Alaska Airlines and CLEAR's security fastlane program — the airline hopes to replace boarding passes with biometric scanning.

Airlines hope that biometric scanning will both heighten the achievable level of security when flying, and eliminate bottlenecks in departure gates. A reduction in necessary TSA agents may also be made possible if all goes according to plan.

Considering the TSA's current public perception, that might not be such a bad idea.