Self-service kiosk live testing at Prague Airport in preparation for the EES
The Czech Republic is moving fast forward with their European Entry/Exit System (EES) implementation. Besides a comprehensive EES solution, the focus is also on end users to ensure optimal passenger flow.
For this purpose, the Authority at Prague Airport has installed two self-service kiosks for a live test phase. The objectives of the live test were to validate the usability of the user interface and the impact on real process time. As a part of the project, the Czech Border Police, in collaboration with Prague Airport operator, conducted live tests with travelers who had never used an easykiosk before. The travelers registered the required data themselves at the easykiosk including the questionnaire, where all participants answered and entered all data defined by the local authority. The clear instructions on the easykiosk user interface screen guided the travelers. As a result, the needed time for the pre-enrollment of EES data including the QA process steps was measured.
The live tests show that the overall duration of the self-service kiosk does not take longer than expected – the average process time is 89 seconds. This figure confirms previously made estimations, which also took data from the pilot projects into account. Due to the intuitive user guidance the capturing of the traveler’s biometric data (face image and four fingerprints) worked very well. The live test phase brought the Authority and Prague Airport another big step closer to a successful EES implementation.
In the near future 58 secunet easykiosks will allow self-service pre-registration of Third Country Nationals at Prague Airport, thus speeding up processes at the manual border control booth. The easykiosk will be centrally positioned in the direction to border control counters and ABC gates from all airport hubs at Terminal 1. The entire kiosk contingent has already been installed at Prague Airport to optimize the final positioning towards travelers. In the Czech Republic self-service kiosks are considered as one main pillar of automation of the border control process. Besides the automated solutions for the manual border control booth, the recently operating 17 secunet easygates will also play an important role in the EES process.