Case Study: Heathrow Airport achieves faster, seamless passenger boarding with dormakaba self-boarding biometric gates

dormakaba helps Heathrow customer service soar

Heathrow Airport, facing a five‑year high in passenger numbers (handling a record 80.1 million passengers in 2018), needed to speed up passenger flow and boarding without compromising security. Heathrow engaged dormakaba to deliver biometric-enabled self‑boarding across the departing passenger journey; dormakaba recommended and supplied its HSB‑M03 Self‑Boarding Gates and the PaxCheck Self‑Boarding Solution to bring facial recognition to check‑in, bag‑drop, security lanes and boarding gates.

dormakaba supplied and installed the Argus HSB‑M03 gates, integrated the system with Heathrow’s biometric platform (in partnership with Atkins), provided project management and ongoing third/fourth line support. The deployment—planned to exceed 400 gates with Terminals 2A, 2B and 5A completed and more due by end 2020—has delivered faster boarding, reduced staffing needs, live passenger throughput reporting and high reliability with strong passenger feedback.

Heathrow Airport

Simon Wilcox

Passenger Automation Programme Lead