gatwick

London’s Gatwick Airport has become the first airport in the world to introduce paperless ID pass applications.

Gatwick will be using MTrust by Human Recognition Systems (HRS), an airport ID pass application vetting and issuance solution that is hosted in the Cloud. The technology will help the airport in reducing pass rejections and waiting times.

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The technology will also streamline the airport’s ID centre operations to increase security and enhance its services.

The airport stated that its previous paper-based processes would have been incapable of supporting Gatwick’s plan for an additional 1,200 on-airport jobs by 2021-22.

The benefit of the technology is that it provides streamlined ID Pass management with absolute certainty of identity. It creates online profiles and auto-completion of pass application forms that helps in completing pass applications correctly first time.

Since January, Gatwick has stopped accepting paper applications and MTrust has processed nearly 16,000 pass applications with a pass rejection rate of less than 2%.

"As we continue to grow and plan for a second runway, it was vital that our internal processes were in position to cope with the additional numbers of staff."

MTrust was developed in close partnership with Gatwick and is now live with close to 2,500 authorised signatories or employees at on-airport companies who can apply for Airport ID passes.

These signatories are provided with MTrust gives total visibility of an application’s progress to both the ID Centre and the Authorised Signatory. the tools that they require to submit and track pass applications eliminating the need for paper.

Gatwick CIO Michael Ibbitson said: "As we continue to grow and plan for a second runway, it was vital that our internal processes were in position to cope with the additional numbers of staff. We worked with Human Recognition Systems on MTrust and the benefits of the system to not just ourselves, but to our partners and on-airport customers were obvious."

HRS CEO Neil Norman said: "This reduces the number of calls and enquiries, speeding up the process and allowing passes to be issued in as little as a week from beginning the application process to issuing the pass.

"Furthermore, MTrust has created a unique community of community of Airports, Authorised Signatories and Employees who are able to transfer and share information between them for mutual advantage."

Image: Gatwick airport’s new south terminal security area. Photo: courtesy of Gatwick Airport.

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