Face will be your boarding pass soon at KIA

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru,Sep 06 2018: Equipped with face-recognition technology, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here will let select passengers breeze through its gates from early next year. The airport operators have inked a deal with Vision-Box to soon launch paperless biometric self-boarding technology that promises seamless transit.

 

To be launched in the first quarter of next year, the new feature is expected to simplify the journey by making all the airport processes paperless, from registration to boarding.

Simply put, the biometric technology will identify passengers by their face as they move across the airport. This will avoid stops and the repeated presentation of boarding passes, passports or other physical identity documents.

Once the technology is introduced, KIA will emerge as India’s first airport to have an end-to-end solution for paperless air travel, according to the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL).

“Your face is your boarding pass,” explained BIAL chief executive officer, Hari Marar. “Vision-Box’s state-of-the-art biometric technology, combined with its passenger flow platform will enable a seamless journey for our passengers, without obstacles, waiting in lines or hassles, from registration to boarding,” he said.

Passengers of Jet Airways, Air Asia and SpiceJet will be the first users of the new technology. The system will be implemented in the first quarter of 2019. Time-consuming procedures such as check-in, bag drop, access to the lounge and boarding are expected to be speeded up.

Last month, the facial recognition technology had helped airport staff in Washington DC to nab a man attempting to enter the US with false documents. He had presented a genuine French passport as his ID, but the facial recognition system detected a mismatch between the passport photo and his face.

Marar officially signed the contract with Vision-Box CEO Miguel Leitmann in Lisbon, Portugal on Wednesday. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and Minister of Economy Manuel Caldeira Cabral were among the dignitaries present.

Leitmann informed that once installed, KIA would be the first end-to-end face recognition-based walkthrough experience in Asia and the largest in the world.

Courtesy: DH