Milan Linate Airport becomes fully biometric allowing passengers to board using only their face

Milano Linate FaceBoarding service. CREDIT: SEA Milan.

Following a successful trial period, Milan Linate Airport has made the decision to offer a FaceBoarding service to passengers. FaceBoarding uses a biometric facial recognition system to allow passengers (who have opted in) to pass through security and board aircraft. 

The service is available to all airlines open to integrating FaceBoarding into check-in and boarding procedures, with Ita Airways and SAS being one of the first airlines to join in on the project. 

This service optimises passenger experience at the airport by allowing those who have already registered, either at the airport kiosks or directly from their mobile devices (the mobile app will be available in June), to shorten the process of checking identification documents and enhance security. As a result, passengers will no longer need to present their documents and/or boarding passes at the pre-security turnstiles and boarding gates, which will become self-service.

This solution is an evolution of the previous test phase and, like it, relies on the voluntary participation of passengers through annual or single flight registration.

With this secure, simple and fast technology, FaceBoarding, developed in collaboration with ENAC and the Italian State Police, not only speeds up the checks, but also increases their effectiveness, while guaranteeing privacy and security of passenger data.

SEA’s project partners, Thales and Dormakaba, developed the biometric processing system and the dedicated gates respectively.