Elenium announced on Thursday that Avalon was “the first airport in Australia” to implement touchless self-service, “ensuring world-class passenger safety and experience when the airport recommences flights”.

With the touchless technology, instead of touching screens, passengers at Avalon Airport will control their interaction with the kiosks and bag drops via head movement - with cameras in kiosks and bag drops linking the movement of the passenger’s head with the movement of a cursor on the screen. 

And in addition, passports can be read by holding them open in front of a camera, rather than by inserting them into a passport slot, with this technology “reducing the risk that a virus is transferred between multiple passengers touching the same devices”.

Last month Elenium announced it had developed its touchless, patent-pending technologies that can also measure a passenger’s vital signs including temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate - with the touchless component of this technology to be available at Avalon Airport kiosks and bag drops “to assist in the fight against COVID-19 and other transmissible illnesses”. 

Avalon Airport CEO Justin Giddings, said: “The partnership between Elenium and Avalon demonstrates how quickly a response to the COVID-19 virus can be implemented. This solution will allow passengers to go through the self-service experience without touching a device, thereby providing a seamless, intuitive and safe method of moving quickly through the airport.”

Elenium Automation CEO and Co-founder, Aaron Hornlimann, said: “While this is very difficult time for the aviation industry, we have an opportunity to make the changes for passenger safety and well-being that will increase their confidence.

“We are very excited that Avalon is working with us to ensure the airport is in a great position to rebound from this crisis by giving their passengers and team a streamlined, safe airport experience.

“We believe the introduction of touchless self-service will encourage people to return to travel.”

Elenium says its touchless technology is part of a broader solution the company has developed in response to the COVID-19 virus, with the full suite of technology including:

• Touchless control of a device using voice recognition (multiple languages), developed in partnership with Amazon Web Services
• Touchless control of a device using head movement control
• Touchless passport and identity card reading
• Touchless vital sign detection, including temperature, respiratory and heart rates