Facial recognition technology installed at Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport has installed facial recognition technology to make it faster for passengers to get through immigration and security checks. The Airport Authority, which manages the airport, unveiled on Wednesday automated security checks using biometric technology for travellers before entering the restricted area of the airport for screening. Within two to three years, officials hope that during every process requiring checks – from check-in to security, immigration and at the boarding gate – passengers would only need to have their faces scanned as the identity check. “In terms of scalability this is the starting point for the whole biometrics journey,” said Chris Au Young, general manager of the smart airport concept at the Airport Authority Hong Kong. Singapore’s Changi Airport opened Terminal 4 last year, filled with automated technologies and processes that are now being slowly matched at HKIA. “We are also going to implement the same biometrics [face] capture at the check-in to enrol the face to show you have a valid boarding pass and passport. Associated with your face, it is the single [digital] token to go through the rest of the checkpoints until you board the aircraft.” For now, the airport has installed four automated gates, which go into operation on Thursday. By next year, 44 such gates will be in operation.<br/>