AUSSIE FIRSTS: Melbourne airport to introduce touchless check-in, while Canberra rolls out temp scanning

AUSSIE FIRSTS: Melbourne airport to introduce touchless check-in, while Canberra rolls out temp scanning
By Alexandra Coulton


Melbourne’s Avalon Airport will become the first Aussie airport to introduce touchless check-in.

Avalon has signed a deal with Elenium Automation to introduce a touchless self-service check-in to ensure passenger safety when the airport recommences flights.

“The partnership between Elenium and Avalon demonstrates how quickly a response to the COVID-19 virus can be implemented,” Justin Giddings, Avalon Airport CEO said.

“This solution will allow passengers to go through the self-service experience without touching a device, thereby providing a seamless, intuitive and safe method of moving quickly through the airport.”

Instead of touching the kiosk screen, passengers at Avalon Airport will control their interaction with the kiosks and bag drops via head movement.

Cameras in kiosks and bag drops will link the movement of the passenger’s head with the movement of a cursor on the screen.

In addition, passports can be read by holding them open in front of a camera, rather than by inserting them into a passport slot. This technology reduces the risk that a virus is transferred between multiple passengers touching the same devices.

Meanwhile, Canberra Airport introduced body temperature scanning at security last week, as an additional safety measure against COVID-19.

The airport’s head of aviation, Michael Thomson, said that as passengers departing Canberra pass through airport security a camera takes their image and records their temperature in real-time.

“If a passenger has a body temperature over 37.8 degrees celsius they will be attended by a registered nurse immediately,” Thomson said.

“The nurse will provide a face mask, offer to take their temperature again, and ask the passenger to participate in a questionnaire.

“If a passenger continues to display signs of high temperature or fever then the airline they intend to travel with will be informed. This way both the individual passenger and the airlines will be best informed to make sensible decisions about whether the passenger should be travelling at this time.”

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