Machines for additional passenger control have been installed in a specially-designated area in a new Ashgabat airport, which was opened in September this year.
After a passenger checks in for the flight, checks in baggage and goes through security control, officers in a uniform approach him and accompany a passenger to the machine, which resembles an airline ticket printer.
Fist a passenger is requested to scan his passport and then press four fingers for a finger-scanning procedure.
Questions pop up on the machine screen, including destination (from a drop-down list of cities), departure and arrival dates (a calendar pops up), the purpose of a trip (several options pop up) etc. After answering all these questions and ticking the options, a machine makes a photo of passenger's face which appears on the screen.
All this time a person in a uniform stands next to a passenger to offer help if needed and makes sure data entry is fully completed.
Only after going through all these procedures a passenger is allowed to enter a passport control zone where border guard officers and Migration service employees again check his passport, visa and tickets.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan