In an internal briefing note this past June, a Public Safety Canada official urged his government to support a fascinating pilot project being run by Air Canada. The airline was testing a system where passengers verified their identities at the boarding gate through facial-recognition equipment — no passport or boarding pass required. “Biometric technology has significant potential to help ensure the safety and security of Canadians, while increasing confidence, efficiencies and fairness for passengers,” deputy minister Shawn Tupper argued in the document, obtained by the National Post through access to information legislation. But Tupper was only adding to a chorus of voices promoting the idea. Air Canada’s Vancouver project turns out to be one piece in a Canadian-backed, worldwide drive to usher in a potential new era of air travel, one where traditional physical documents would be largely replaced by facial features as a passenger’s entrée to airports and countries. The concept could save airlines money, lessen the hassle of flying — and possibly create brand-new privacy threats. In a request for information quietly issued in October, Transport Canada asked for contractors to propose ways of implementing its Air Right Touch initiative, where passengers could move through the airport on the authority of their own facial biometrics, tied electronically to passport and other data. The International Air Transport Association — an airline trade group — is pushing a parallel idea, One ID, with so many pilot projects happening throughout the world it’s stopped keeping track of them. And Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is studying a new system that would use facial recognition technology (FRT) to expedite border control, too. “They have this sort of dream — and the World Economic Forum has talked about it, too — of a kind of passport-less travel,” says Benjamin Muller, a Western University professor and leading academic expert on biometrics and borders.<br/>
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Greece’s Aegean Airlines will wet lease two Airbus A320 aircraft from Cyprus Airways to add additional seats to its network throughout 2024, with one aircraft already having temporarily operated services on behalf of the Greek carrier. The wet leasing of its two Airbus A320 would mean that half of the airline's fleet would operate flights for other airlines. According to a statement shared by Paul Sies, the CEO of Cyprus Airways, the war in Israel has affected the airline, with the carrier welcoming 41% fewer passengers and operating 12% fewer flights in November 2023 Year-on-Year (YoY). However, the airline said this was offset by an increase in revenues and average fare growth of 21% and 115%, respectively, resulting in a “significant increase in the net income position.” Sies highlighted that Cyprus Airways routes to Dubai International Airport (DXB), Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport (CDG), and Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) performed better, helping the airline compensate for the loss of traffic to/from Israel.<br/>