Taiwanese Airline Implements Biometric Boarding

Taiwan’s EVA Air has become the latest international airline to partner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Biometric Exit program.

The airline has officially launched a biometric boarding system aimed at those traveling from San Francisco to Taiwan. Passengers’ faces will be scanned at the boarding gate, with their face biometrics matched against the CBP’s watch lists and the airline’s own records.

The system facilitates contactless boarding for those who are eligible (infants and individuals with special needs will still need to follow conventional boarding procedures), which could prove appealing to passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Taiwan News reports, EVA Air has indicated that it’s planning to expand its use of facial recognition technology to encompass luggage drop and other aspects of the travel experience, though no timeframe for those efforts has been given as yet.

EVA Air’s efforts reflect a broader interest in biometric solutions in the travel sector as airports and airlines look for more efficient ways of processing passengers. Meanwhile, border security agencies like the CBP prize facial recognition-based screening for its heightened security, and have sought out private sector partners like EVA Air to get such technologies deployed.

While biometric boarding systems remain relatively few in number, there have been many deployments of face-based security screening systems at airports around the world. In the US, the CBP has undertaken a flurry of activity in recent months with the expansion of its “Simplified Arrival” biometric border screening program.

Source: Taiwan News

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December 1, 2020 – by Alex Perala