Japanese airports to trial facial recognition technology for passenger boarding

29th March 2021

Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA) and Tokyo International Air Terminal Corporation (TIAT) have announced they will begin trialing Face Express – a new facial recognition technology for boarding procedures – at Narita International and Tokyo International airports.

From April 13, passengers will be able to register their facial image in Face Express and then access and proceed through subsequent procedures at the airport (check-in, baggage drop, security checkpoint entrance, boarding gate, etc) without showing their passport and boarding pass.

According to NAA and TIAT, the introduction of Face Express will expedite seamless boarding procedures. Furthermore, because most processing is touchless, it will also reduce the infection risks posed by person-to-person contact.

Following the trials at the airports, full launch of the Face Express technology is expected in July 2021.