Facial Recognition to Be Used for Boarding at Narita
Tokyo's main international airport is introducing facial recognition technology that lets passengers board planes without showing their passports or boarding passes after check-in.
From spring 2020, passengers at Narita International Airport will have photos taken at self check-in kiosks when they enter their passport and boarding pass information. Then, instead of showing their ID and boarding pass as they board, cameras will check passengers' faces against the photos.
Narita says it will become the first airport in Japan where passengers won't need to stop and show their passport while boarding. It's not yet clear whether travelers will be able to choose to board without using the facial recognition system, however.
Narita hopes the system will make boarding easier ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The system will also reduce the number of airport staff needed as Japan continues to experience labor shortages.
The facial recognition system will first be used by All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines before being used by other airlines.
Tokyo's other major airport, Haneda, has been testing similar technology since October 2017.
Automated passport gates were also introduced at Narita airport in June last year. Those gates compare photos of passengers' faces to the information in their passports, but they can currently only be used by travelers with Japanese passports.
