Have you heard of FaceBoarding? This is not an inverted skateboard, but the future of travel! Soon you’ll be boarding planes with just your face. Following the news that two airports in Europe are testing this new passport-free boarding process, one airport in the Middle East is set to do away with boarding documents altogether.
Which airport starts the documentless boarding process?
As part of Abu Dhabi Airport’s ‘Smart Travel’ programme, from 2025 passengers traveling through Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport will be able to check-in for their flights using only facial recognition, thanks to the rollout of this new artificial intelligence to all security checkpoints.
But how does this technology work? These are sensors that will be installed and passengers will go through three before boarding the plane: one to capture their image, one for check-in and one for boarding.
In a press release to celebrate the one millionth passenger using the biometric sensors, airport CEO Elena Sorlini said: “The initial deployment of revolutionary biometric technology at Zayed International Airport underscores our commitment to improving the passenger experience through innovation and technology, ensuring efficiency, convenience and superior service. Once fully implemented, Abu Dhabi will be the first airport in the world to have integrated biometric technology at every stage, providing passengers with a seamless, safe and secure journey.”
According to euronews, in a statement made by the local government in July, the project will use the UAE Federal Authority’s database to automatically identify passengers, meaning that passengers will no longer need to register upon arrival at the airport.
These technological developments are not the only ones happening in the aviation sector at the moment. Etihad Airways, also a UAE airline, has already implemented biometric boarding assistance and automated baggage systems, meaning passengers no longer need physical boarding passes.
Thanks to this technology, the time it takes to check your travel documents has been reduced from 25 seconds to just seven seconds – quite fast indeed.
And that’s basically the goal. A statement from Abu Dhabi Airports said the project “will improve airline operations by eliminating the need for costly infrastructure expansion and effectively detect identity fraud and forgery”.