To ease the flow of passengers at border control checkpoints, an experimental biometric border control system is being tested at Border Police checkpoints over a six month-period, at terminal F2 of Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport. This Air France concept uses a fingerprint recognition technique developed by the SAGEM group.Ê
This Automated Border Passage System has been dubbed ‘PEGASE’. Volunteer passengers - whether adults, resident or national passengers from a European Union Member country or Switzerland - having registered with the Border Police receive a PEGASE badge free of charge. The Police make prints of the passengers’ two index fingers and make a secure copy of their personal data. This badge does not replace a travel document, which the passenger must still carry with them. Passengers may register in the special PEGASE lounge, which has been set up by Air France in terminal 2, open Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 8.30pm.

Passengers pass their PEGASE badge in front of the reader, at the entrance to one of the two secured border control checkpoints, located in the departures and arrivals halls of terminal 2F. The door opens and closes automatically after the passenger has gone through.

Once inside the secured checkpoint, the passenger places either of his index fingers on the biometric control reader. The badge holder’s identification is then authenticated; the door opens after the passenger’s ID stored in the system has been compared with his fingerprint. If the recognition system fails, a side door opens giving the passenger access to a special room for a conventional manual identity check.
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