A new European coalition comprising ACI EUROPE, IATA, Amadeus, SITA and IDEMIA has released a manifesto calling on regulators to let passengers choose biometric processing throughout their journey. The initiative, unveiled on 6 October, highlights Cyprus as a prime candidate to scale up existing facial-recognition kiosks at Larnaca and Paphos airports. Cyprus already uses BorderXpress kiosks that match a traveller’s face to the image stored in the passport chip, but only at the immigration stage. The coalition argues that integrating the same biometric token at bag-drop, security and boarding could cut queuing times and raise hourly throughput without physically expanding terminals—critical for an island that handled 8.82 million passengers between January and August 2026, almost 8 % above pre-pandemic levels. The push dovetails with Europe’s broader digital-border agenda: the EU Entry/Exit System went live in April, while the ETIAS travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors is slated to start later this year. Although Cyprus is outside Schengen, it will participate in ETIAS and must decide how biometric data collected for one system can be reused to simplify airport flows. Hermes Airports, which operates both international gateways, says it is analysing end-to-end biometric corridors but needs legal clarity on passenger consent and data retention. Privacy advocates warn that Cyprus lacks robust oversight of how commercial operators handle sensitive facial templates. Travel managers welcome the prospect of smoother arrivals but caution that contingency lanes for children, religious-headgear wearers and low-confidence matches will still be needed. Companies scheduling group movements into Cyprus should monitor pilot schemes, as early adopters may face separate enrolment steps before departure.
Source: Cyprus Mail
