Curaçao Express Pass Goes Live: A Landmark in Biometric Travel Technology

Launching the World's First Pre-Flight Biometric Digital ID Verification for Contactless Border Crossing

Willemstad, Curaçao; 2 July 2024 - The government of Curaçao in conjunction with Curaçao Airport Holding is proud to announce the official launch of the Curaçao Express Pass Program, set to go live on July 1st. This groundbreaking program introduces the World’s First Pre-Flight Biometric Digital ID Verification for Contactless Border Crossing and is powered by Airside, an Entrust Company, the industry leader in privacy-based digital identity sharing and Vision-Box, an Amadeus Company, the global leader in biometric-based travel solutions.

Branded under the slogan "A Seamless Experience," the Curaçao Express Pass is designed to revolutionise the travel experience through advanced biometrics, process orchestration and interoperable digital ID verification technologies.

Curaçao Express Pass heralds an innovative air border program that ensures a smooth, end-to-end travel experience for visitors to the Caribbean Island of Curaçao. This initiative enhances security and creates a seamless journey for travellers by putting pre-processing technology in their hands before they fly and enabling them to show their faces when they cross the border. Incorporating state-of-the-art technology from Airside and Vision-Box puts digital ID at the forefront of aviation development.

“Curaçao Express Pass is the result of a digital vision held by the Ministry of Justice for the last decade. Thanks to steadfast efforts to innovate, we have improved our border management and ensured the highest safety and security at our airport,” said Minister Shalten Hato, Ministry of Justice.

Guided by Curaçao Airport Holding, Curaçao Express Pass represents a significant leap forward in international travel. Curaçao’s Digital ID platform follows ICAO DTC (Digital Travel Credentials) standards fueled by Contactless Biometrics, enabling travellers to enjoy a streamlined process from home to destination. This innovative approach allows travellers to submit their verified information ahead of their journey, bridging the gap between travellers and government authorities. This advancement significantly reduces transaction times, more than doubling processing capacity, and ensures secure, biometric-driven verification with a strong focus on protecting travellers’ data privacy.

“Both public and private stakeholders have collaborated to ensure that we introduce the border crossing technologies and operations in an agile manner that aligns with global advancements,” said Gerold Daantje, Sector Director, Ministry of Justice. “It is with immense pride that we can state that this solution is the first of its kind, launched to redefine how our passengers experience the immigration process.”

Developed through a collaborative multi-stakeholder partnership, combining the efforts of airports, government entities, and industry leaders, Curaçao Express Pass enables a privacy-first common share of data between the different platforms. It ensures that all parties are synchronised and interoperable for optimal efficiency and security and offers robust support for decentralised digital identity verification and traveller orchestration for the benefit of a human-centric process.

“Our goal is to realize a free-flow journey for all passengers travelling to and from Curaçao. Ten years ago, when this project started, we had long queue lines and a manual immigration process. After years of collaborating with the Ministry of Justice to structurally tackle the inefficiencies, we believe that Curaçao Express Pass will make queues a thing of the past. As the airport owner and supervisor of the airport operator, we take great pride in knowing that the pass enables operational efficiency for immigration and allows passengers to have an improved experience in our airport,” said Wilhelmus Ignacio, Director¸ Curaçao Airport Holding.

“The debut of Curaçao Express Pass in the world arena has been 10 years in the making. It marks tremendous improvement collaboration and represents our commitment to the airport owner to embrace cutting-edge technology to improve airport operations and security,” said Priscilla Duin-Circkens, Chief Strategy Officer and Assistant to the Director, Curaçao Airport Holding.

Utilizing the Curaçao Express Pass, travellers verify and share their electronic passport and biometric information with the immigration system well before arrival, using their smartphones. Pre-enrolment occurs in the Airside Digital Identity App, which provides e-passport verification, biometric facial recognition, and consent-driven, time-bound sharing. Travellers then access an expedited immigration lane upon arrival, where the Vision-Box Seamless Gates® and the orchestration platform, the Vision-Box Seamless Journey Platform®, perform facial matching from the app enrolment, allowing travellers to simply walk through immigration upon police backends’ clearance.

Under privacy-by-design certified architecture, the Vision-Box Seamless Journey Platform® seamlessly integrates with government systems and aviation stakeholders, ensuring fluid data flow and real-time orchestration. It helps build a risk-based approach leveraging pre-vetting of expected travellers while improving staff productivity and reducing operational costs.

"Airside is proud to partner with Curaçao in revolutionising travel through the Curaçao Express Pass Program," said Gabriel Wichrowski, VP of Business Development, Airside. “By combining our privacy-first technology with Vision-Box's Seamless Journey Platform, we ensure a secure, efficient, and enjoyable journey for travellers visiting this beautiful Caribbean destination."

"The launch of the Curaçao Express Pass is a major achievement as a world premiere in using, in full production, a set of Digital ID & biometrics to enable seamless border crossing from home to arrival," said Jeff Lennon, VP Strategic Sales & Global Partnerships at Vision-Box. “The success we celebrate today is only made possible through a trusted partnership between all the stakeholders, leveraging on each party’s expertise and leadership to achieve a common goal: make the frictionless travel continuum a reality, at scale.”