The Netherlands -Airport Security: Test at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: quick and easy boarding using facial recognition

Together with KLM, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has started a trial with voluntary ‘biometric boarding’, involving boarding without having to show your boarding pass and passport. Passengers can board quickly and easily via a separate gate that identifies passengers using facial recognition.

Schiphol and KLM are assessing facial recognition technology with this trial, testing the speed, reliability and user-friendliness of the system. The boarding process and passenger experience will also be evaluated. The ultimate goal is to make the boarding process as easy and quick as possible for passengers. The trial period will last at least three months.

The trial will take place at a selected gate at the airport. To use facial recognition for boarding, passengers must register first. There is a special registration kiosk in the waiting area at the gate. KLM staff will assist with the procedure.

To register, passengers must scan their passports and boarding passes, as well as their faces. To ensure privacy is protected, the personal data will only be used for the trial. The data will automatically be deleted after boarding.

Read more at: Test at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: quick and easy boarding using facial recognition

The Netherlands - On High Security Alert: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine

The United States and its G7 allies will gather next week at The Hague to consider a further response to Russia's attempt to absorb Ukraine's Crimea region, the White House said on Tuesday.

The announcement came on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty making Crimea a part of Russia after the region staged a referendum on Sunday that the West has declared illegitimate.

The G7 meeting will take place on the margins of a nuclear security summit at The Hague that U.S. President Barack Obama plans to attend.

"The meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

Note EU-Digest: During the Nuclear conference and the G7 meetings next week a variety of security measures have been taken by the EU and the Dutch Government to protect citizens and visitors against possible terrorist attacks. 

These measures will include  - extensive controls of all travel and travel points ( train, air, boat) in and out of the Netherlands, a no-fly-zone above the conference areas and all other strategic areas, which will be enforced by Dutch and EU air-force squadrons and special security forces. During the days of the conferences,train,  bus and tram operations within the city of the Hague and surrounding areas will be limited.  


Read more: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine | Reuters

Airport Security: Malaysia airport security spotlighted over missing plane

Revelations that at least two people used stolen passports to board a missing passenger jet raise serious "red flags" about security at Malaysia's main international airport, analysts and Interpol have warned.

However, they cautioned against a rush to judgement, citing ongoing investigations and widespread disregard of international databases on stolen passports.

Flight MH370 disappeared over the waters between Malaysia and southern Vietnam early Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No traces of the plane have been confirmed found.

Malaysia has said it is looking at a possible terror motive in the plane's disappearance after at least two people used stolen passports to pass security at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

"It's rather surprising but it obviously raises a red flag," said Chris de Lavigne, an aviation and defence analyst for consultancy Frost and Sullivan.

"We can't look into this too much until further information is available, but it's definitely a red flag," he told AFP.

Read more: Malaysia airport security spotlighted over missing plane - Channel NewsAsia

Denmark: Copenhagen Airport has the best security in the world says survey - by Sigrid Neergaard

Not only is Copenhagen Airport the largest in Scandinavia, it is the best in the world. Well, at least when it comes to airport security, according to a survey of over 12 million travellers.

The airport claimed the distinction of ‘World’s Best Airport Security Processing’, in a survey by aviation research organisation Skytrax, in which 12.1 million passengers were asked to rate 395 airports.

The airport also ranked fifth baggage delivery and was chosen the seventh best among European airports, beating its Scandinavian neighbours. On the list of world’s top airports, Copenhagen came in at number  17.

“The recognition is a huge feather in the hat for our employees, who during the past six to seven years have worked hard on giving passengers a good start on their journeys, as well as maintaining a high security level,” the CEO of Copenhagen Airport, Thomas Woldbye, said in a press statement.

Read more: Survey: Copenhagen Airport has the best security in the world | The Copenhagen Post | The Danish News in English

The Netherlands: Security Measures Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Inadequate - by Doreen Carvajal

A Dutch investigative journalist breached security checks at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, smuggling a refilled liquor bottle aboard passenger jets bound for London and Washington, prompting airport officials to impose new restrictive measures. Alberto Stegeman, a television reporter, has boasted of a history of exposing security flaws at Schiphol, where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a flight to Detroit on Dec. 25, allegedly with explosives hidden in his underwear. This time airport security guards recognized him, Mr. Stegeman said, and ordered him to show them what he had filmed with his camera. But he said they overlooked his sealed bag with a Bacardi bottle from a duty-free shop in the airport.

Mr. Stegeman, whose report was broadcast on Sunday, said he purchased a bottle of rum, emptied it and refilled it with water before returning it to the store. Then he returned to the same shop and “bought” the refilled bottle, which the shop sealed in a bag with a receipt, allowing him to take it through security checks and on to a plane that landed in London, where he transferred to a flight to Washington. “This was a real big security gap, and the system failed,” said Mr. Stegeman, who was recognized by security staff because of his previous stories where he had posed as a worker for three months and then passed through security unchecked.

“When they recognized me, they had a lot of extra security guards and asked a chief to come and look at me. Still, they didn’t look inside the bag. They looked at the bag, checked the flight number, but that was it,” Mr. Stegeman said.

For more: New Security Breach at Amsterdam Airport - NYTimes.com

European response mixed to new US security demands - by Gregory Katz

Airline passengers bound for the United States faced a hodgepodge of security measures across the world Monday, but most European airports did not appear to be following a new U.S. demand for increased screening of passengers from 14 countries. Yet Europe remains the key crossroads for air travelers heading to the United States, with over 800 scheduled trans-Atlantic flights a day in 2009, especially from major hubs like London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was using 15 full-body scanners on flights to the U.S. and Dutch officials announced Monday they will buy 60 more scanners. In Oslo, U.S.-bound passengers had to show their passports and boarding passes twice at the gate, get their carry-ons searched and go through full body pat-downs. French airport officials said the changes will not be implemented until they are ordered by the French government.

European response mixed to new US security demands - BusinessWeek