France Identité, the government-backed mobile-ID programme, kicked-off its EUDIW Unfold #4.1 Interoperability Week in Paris on 21 September. The five-day technical sprint brings together wallet providers, airlines, border police and airport operators to test how European Digital Identity (EUDI) credentials can be accepted at bag-drop, security and e-gates without additional paperwork. Swedish tech firm iGrant.io confirmed it is trialling its Organisation Wallet Suite alongside the France Identité app to issue and verify mobile driving-licence, age-verification and passport credentials. Geneva Airport and Marseille-Provence are acting as live-environment sandboxes, allowing passengers to present a QR-coded French e-ID instead of a physical passport for domestic Schengen flights. Results will feed into a larger Geneva–Paris pilot slated for Q4 2026. Paris is positioning digital ID as a key enabler ahead of the 2027 ETIAS launch and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic hand-over, when traffic at Charles-de-Gaulle is forecast to rise 12 %. By moving identity checks upstream to smartphones, officials hope to offset biometric bottlenecks created by the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), already blamed for sporadic queues at Dover and Calais. For multinational companies, successful interoperability would allow employees holding a French e-ID to fast-track through partner airports across the EU, cutting dwell time and improving duty-of-care compliance by reducing physical document exposure. Employers should start mapping whether company-issued mobile-device policies permit the storage of government credentials and update travel-risk briefings accordingly. If the pilot is deemed a success, France Identité plans to publish an SDK for airline and hotel apps by December, potentially opening new ‘document-free’ check-in flows for corporate travellers.
Source: iGrant.io Newsroom
