Advertisement
Hong Kong aviation
Hong KongTransport

Facial recognition technology installed at Hong Kong International Airport

Automated gates designed to reduce the time it will take for passengers to pass through security checks at airport by using biometric scanners

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
A member of staff demonstrates using an e-security gate at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Danny Lee

Hong Kong International Airport has installed facial recognition technology to make it faster for passengers to get through immigration and security checks.

Late to the game, 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.

Advertisement
It is hoped the new system will speed up the time it takes for passengers to get through the airport. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
It is hoped the new system will speed up the time it takes for passengers to get through the airport. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

“In terms of scalability this is the starting point for the whole biometrics journey,” Chris Au Young, general manager of the smart airport concept at the Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, by following airport trends around the world. Singapore’s Changi Airport opened Terminal 4 last year, filled with automated technologies and processes that are now being slowly matched at HKIA.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x