Dubai: The Red-Carpet Travel Corridor project by the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai has won the Dubai-it Award for Projects in the Field of Government, in recognition of its transformation of the passenger clearance experience. The project has redesigned travel procedures to make them faster, easier and more efficient, delivering an extraordinary experience that enables passengers to complete travel clearance in under five seconds, without presenting documents or stopping.

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, congratulated the Red-Carpet Travel Corridor project team on winning the award.

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan said: “Today, we present the Dubai-it Award for Projects in the Field of Government to the Red-Carpet Travel Corridor project by the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai, which has achieved the world’s fastest travel clearance process, enabling passengers to complete procedures in under five seconds without presenting documents or stopping. Powered by AI, the project has increased capacity tenfold and achieved a passenger satisfaction rate exceeding 99%.”

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan added: “The Dubai-it philosophy is about making a leap in how things are done, going beyond what the world accepts as standard to deliver something extraordinary that redefines it. This is how we want technology to serve Dubai, by making people’s lives easier and creating experiences that exceed their expectations. I congratulate the Red-Carpet Travel Corridor project team on this achievement.”

The General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai developed the Red-Carpet Travel Corridor at Dubai International Airport. The smart corridor uses AI and biometric recognition technologies to verify passenger identities and complete clearance procedures automatically and seamlessly.

The system can process up to 10 passengers simultaneously through the smart corridor, compared with traditional lanes, which process one passenger at a time.

The Red-Carpet Travel Corridor’s win of the Dubai-it Award was based on a set of tangible, measurable results, foremost among them achieving the world’s fastest travel clearance experience in under five seconds, increasing capacity tenfold and recording a passenger satisfaction rate exceeding 99%.

The project has also helped reduce clearance and waiting times and enhance the operational efficiency of travel procedures, while delivering financial savings and tangible economic impact. These results demonstrate the ability of government innovation to deliver direct benefits that go beyond technological advancement to improve the experience of millions of travellers.

Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of the Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said: “A city’s competitiveness is measured by its ability to facilitate the movement of people and business. The Dubai-it philosophy comes to life through extraordinary projects of global significance. The Red-Carpet Travel Corridor demonstrates how this philosophy translates into economic value and an experience unlike any other in the world: time given back to travellers, greater capacity for growth, and efficiency that strengthens Dubai’s standing as a global destination.”

He added: “The Dubai-it Award celebrates achievements whose impact deserves to extend across government. The success the award recognises today should become a starting point for greater achievements and a culture of work that continually raises institutional ambition and performance.”

The Red-Carpet Travel Corridor project represents a model for the future of border crossings, integrating technology with innovative service design to deliver a faster, easier and safer travel experience, while strengthening Dubai’s standing as a global destination for innovation in government services and travel procedures.

The project embodies the Dubai-it philosophy, which focuses on translating ideas and ambitions into rapid execution and extraordinary results, demonstrating how advanced technologies can be transformed into practical solutions for travellers.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Dubai-it initiative to embody Dubai’s philosophy of work and its development model, based on achievement, hard work and determination to turn ambitions into tangible accomplishments in record time.

The initiative seeks to translate Dubai’s philosophy of action into a clear and enduring framework for turning ambition into results. It is designed to embed a culture of achievement across generations, institutions and companies, and to institutionalise a way of working defined by speed, excellence and impact, ensuring that Dubai’s approach to delivery becomes a sustained model for future growth.

Under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai-it Award was launched as an annual award to honour those who have delivered in line with Dubai’s philosophy of work and demonstrated the true meaning of Dubai-it: accomplishing something extraordinary with excellence, in record time.

The award recognises individuals, projects, institutions and companies that have contributed to turning big ideas into reality, ambitions into achievements and visions into results the world can see.