Your face will be your passport: Singapore's Changi airport to soon introduce biometric technology

Singapore will introduce groundbreaking biometric immigration clearance at the Changi airport, scheduled to commence next year. This innovative system will allow passengers to exit the city without relying on a traditional passport, instead utilising only their biometric data, reported CNN.

Earlier this week, Communications Minister Josephine Teo said that the city-state was going to be among the first few countries to give a green signal to automated immigration clearance.

The Singapore government approved several amendments to the country's Immigration Act on September 18, the report added.

Singapore Airport, rated the best in the world, already uses biometric technology as well as facial recognition software. However, with biometric immigration clearance, operations will likely get faster and smoother.

Minister Teo said that the amendments to the Immigration Act will “reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at touch points and allow for more seamless and convenient processing,” reported Money Control.

As part of its elaborate biometrics programme, Teo said that a “single token of authentication” will be put in place at various automated touch points, including bag drops to clearance and boarding, the report added.

The latest method will eliminate the need to show boarding passes and passports at all airport points.

The Changi Airport is also among the busiest in the world, with more than 100 airlines flying to 400 cities, connecting roughly 100 countries and territories worldwide. In June alone, the airport handled 5.12 million passenger movements. This was the first time the numbers crossed the 5 million mark since January 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic started.

The airport, which has four terminals currently, will soon add its fifth as the number of travellers continues to grow.

“Our immigration systems must be able to manage this high and growing volume of travellers efficiently and provide a positive clearance experience while ensuring our security,” Teo said.

Among other countries, the Dubai International Airport has biometric “smart gates” tunnels that use facial recognition to verify travellers in less than five seconds.

The facial recognition technology is also in use at Hong Kong International Airport, Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda, Indira Gandhi International in Delhi, London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

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