Boarding without ID

Milan Airport introduces facial recognition

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Malambo C/peopleimages.com)

Milan Linate Airport is the first airport in Europe to introduce biometric facial recognition technology for access to security checks and boarding gates. The scans are intended to replace boarding cards and passports, thereby saving time.

The face boarding service, developed by French defense and aviation company Thales, will make it possible to reduce screening times by eliminating the need to present ID and boarding passes, with everything handled automatically by the biometric recognition system, said Armando Brunini, Managing Director of Milan Airports, at the launch of the facial recognition technology. "We will check how the system works in Linate, but we definitely intend to introduce it at Milan Malpensa Airport. We will consider with which companies and in what time frame," says Brunini.

Managing Director: "Security will be increased"
The airport managing director emphasized that facial recognition would "increase security". At the same time, "privacy will be respected". The new system is basically open to all airlines. So far, ITA Airways and SAS have joined the project.

Milan Linate Airport is the smaller of the two international airports in Milan, Italy's second largest city, alongside Milan Malpensa. It mainly serves national and European connections as well as business travel.