Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said passport-free trips may be possible within five years if governments, airlines and airports agree on how digital identities will be accepted across borders, making international coordination central to the proposal.
Gulf News reported Monday that Griffiths made the estimate in a LinkedIn post. He said the technology is available and that public authorities and aviation businesses must make their identity systems work across national boundaries.
Griffiths said digital identity could also support steps away from the airport, including border clearance, rental-car pickup and hotel check-in. For travelers, that would require a digital identity to be accepted across the countries on a trip; a system limited to one airport would not meet the cross-border condition he described.
He said countries would adopt the approach on different schedules. Gulf News framed the five-year horizon as Griffiths’ estimate, rather than a date set for passport-free service to begin.
