Say goodbye to queues at Customs

Kiwis flying across the Tasman could soon be getting through airports more quickly with the help of automatic passport-reading machines.

New Zealand and Australian travellers with electronic passports will be able to put themselves through passport control without having to queue.

Passengers put their passports into a machine similar to a ticket kiosk that downloads details, including an electronic image of the passport holder's face.

Passengers are then given a coupon for a gate, at which cameras and computers using facial recognition technology do the checks done till now by customs officers.

Customs comptroller Martyn Dunne said New Zealanders had been able to use the SmartGate at Brisbane Airport since late last year and the system would soon be set up in Sydney.

Similar machines would be tested in Wellington in the next few months and he expected the system would be available for all trans-Tasman travel in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

At first it would be available only to New Zealanders and Australians with electronic passports but he expected it would later be available to those from other countries.

Travellers would still have to go through the airport baggage-checking system and some people would still be pulled aside.

"All this is processing people and takes away the necessity to handle everybody in a one-to-one contact," Mr Dunne said.

New Zealanders and Australians accounted for 60 per cent of all trans-Tasman passengers and it would streamline the procedure for most people.

WHAT IS SMARTGATE? 
An electronic passport control system that automatically checks that travellers are who they say they are and does the routine immigration and customs checks everyone is put through when arriving at the border. It should reduce airport queues.

How does it work?
The SmartGate kiosk reads data, including an electronic photo on the microchip embedded in electronic passports issued since 2005. Computers use facial recognition technology to verify the passenger's identity. If they match, passengers go through automatically - if not, they have to be checked by a customs officer.