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Shannon Airport host world trial of security system XP-DITE

L-R Niall Maloney, Operations Manager Shannon Airport, John Francis, Chief Security Officer Shannon Airport and Dr. Mike Kemp, ICONAL Technology Ltd. Photo credit: Arthur Ellis. XP-DITE.

A new checkpoint concept, which could halve the time spent in security by millions of passengers at airports around the world, is being trialed for a ten-week period at Shannon Airport.

Shannon is the first airport in the world to trial the new pre-clearance checkpoint, which was developed as part of the EU-funded XP-DITE project.

The new approach being pioneered at Shannon – Europe’s first US pre-clearance airport – combines the European and US Pre-clearance checkpoints, replacing the two separate checkpoints which are used at present with just one. The Shannon trial will show how a checkpoint can be designed to comply with two different sets of regulations (EU and the US TSA systems).


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XP-DITE

XP Dite airport Security Shannon Airport. Pic Arthur Ellis.

This combined checkpoint is the first of its kind in the world and has been designed to improve customer experience. Passengers flying to the US will no longer have to queue up twice for separate security checks.

Airport Operations Director from Shannon Airport, Niall Maloney says, “Shannon Airport is delighted to have been selected to trial this new state-of-the-art technology. Passenger security is of paramount importance to us and being able to trial a new system that combines the highest level of security screening together with a customer focused operation is a win-win. The elimination of the additional security measures in the U.S. Preclearance facility in particular is a significant advancement in improving both our passengers and customer airlines experience.

“We have literally just started trialing the new checkpoint and already we are getting positive feedback from our airport customers availing of the pre-clearance by the removal of a checkpoint. We are delighted to have been chosen to be part of the XP–DITE project team and would like to thank the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport and the U.S Transportation Security Administration for their support in putting in place these enhanced arrangements”.

XP-DITE Project Coordinator, Mark van den Brink said, “Designing and evaluating airport checkpoints at system level gives the possibility to assess new approaches to airport security which could maintain a high level of security while improving the experience for passengers and reducing costs for operators”.

Pre-clearance allows passengers to complete immigration and customs formalities, as well as security screening for US domestic flights before they travel to the USA.  This means that they can land at any airport in the USA, not just the busy International ones, they can take domestic flights without rescreening and their luggage can be checked through to their final destination.

Ten major airports across Europe and around the world are looking to adopt the pre-clearance approach, which could benefit some 20 million US-bound passengers per year.

XP-DITE is a collaboration between 13 research organizations, universities, security companies and airports across Europe, funded by the European Union FP7 research programme.

Read more about Shannon Airport here.

Follow Shannon Airport on Twitter here.

Check out XP-DITE here.

 

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