Guangzhou Baiyun Airport launches facial recognition for domestic flights

GUANGZHOU - Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in South China's Guangdong province has launched a new facial recognition service for passengers taking domestic flights.

One ID, launched Wednesday at the airport, enables passengers to use facial recognition for self-service check-in, luggage check-in, as well as security check and boarding identification.

The service creates a database for each passenger, enabling them to use just their faces for identification throughout the boarding process, said Yang Hongyu, who heads the airport's IT department.

The system extracts the passengers' facial information and matches it against their itinerary for identification. It maintains safety and increases efficiency by reducing manual ID checks, Yang said.

With the COVID-19 epidemic under control, the growth of China's air passenger traffic has picked up. The civil aviation sector reported an average of 10,820 daily flights in June, up 14.1 percent from May.