Punta Cana Airport's automated border checks speed passengers'journey

SITA’s automated immigration technology processes passengers in seconds

Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ), the busiest airport in the Dominican Republic, is using SITA’s Automated Border Control Gates to automate the border process for passengers from the US and Canada, as well as Spain, UK, and France, as they leave the country.

Punta Cana International Airport serves 7.6 million passengers a year and a smooth airport journey is a top priority. SITA’s automated gates have shown significant improvements in passenger processing times, with passengers clearing the immigration checks in just seconds. More than 340,000 passengers have been processed through the automated gates in the first eight months of operations, with more than 4,000 using them on the busiest days.

Frank Elías Rainieri, CEO, Punta Cana International Airport, said: “As the Dominican Republic’s busiest airport, we are always looking for new ways to make the journey better for our passengers. We chose to work with SITA because we knew that they could provide a fully integrated solution and would collaborate with us and the immigration authority to deliver a world-class service for our passengers. Since we started using SITA’s automated border gates, we have seen a significant reduction in queue times, with passengers taking as little as ten seconds to go through the border checks.”

SITA’s automated border control gates were installed in Terminal 1 in January 2018, followed by Terminal 2 in July 2018. The exit process involves capturing a live face image, which is then verified against the face biometric contained in their passport’s electronic chip.

Elbson Quadros, SITA Vice President, Latin America, said: “Our aim is to make this process as simple as possible for passengers, airlines, the border agency and the airport. Creating that simplicity requires collaboration and integration across all the stakeholders. In particular, we have worked very closely with both the airport and the Dirección General de Migración to develop the brand-new process of automated passenger processing, ensuring it meets all the authority’s requirements. This is a great example of how collaboration can improve the passenger experience.”