Dubai airport passengers will ‘clear immigration in seconds’

Officials said such developments were necessary to keep up with the growing number of travellers.

DUBAI // In the not too distant future, passengers at Dubai International Airport will be able to clear immigration in seconds, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs said.

Maj Gen Obaid bin Suroor said such developments were needed to keep up with the growing number of travellers, which rose from 12 million in 2000 to 70.4 million last year.

The number of entry and exit passengers increased from 5.9 million in 2000 to 40.4 million last year. To accommodate this, the number of passport control counters rose from 67 to 264, and e-gates increased from three in 2003 to 120 this year. More employees were hired, up from 400 in 2000, to 1,711.

“In spite of this development, we still find frequent pictures of overcrowded queues, especially during rush hour,” said Maj Gen bin Suroor. “We have to think about other solutions in the future.”

He said during the next 10 years, advances will be made to allow passengers to go through border control counters in 30 seconds and e-gates within 16 seconds, although these will eventually be phased out to give way to a one-second immigration procedure.

“This is our vision in Dubai airport in the next 10 years,” said Maj Gen bin Suroor. “We won’t have e-gates, just gates for passengers, and they won’t be stopped, they will just pass through.”

He said this would require more efficiency and speed in gathering information.

“We should have an internal and external information network, and exchange this information with our partners in the private and public sectors quickly,” he said.

“We should have high quality training and we are using a system of crowd metrics, which includes emotional response and focus metrics to lead us to reach all passengers and their needs.”