The Varanasi airport in India's Uttar Pradesh will soon become the first airport in the state to have an automated facial recognition system for passenger boarding process.According to a Hindustan Times report, the installation process of the biometric access system in Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport is underway. “Automated walkthrough security scanners equipped with facial recognition technology are being installed at the airport's entry, security and boarding points,” the airport director AK Rai said.Earlier, the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) chose three airports, including Varanasi, Vijayawada and Kolkata, to implement biometric access system for passenger boarding process.The biometric access system project would be carried out on a pilot basis at the three airports.The three airports were chosen under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digi Yatra initiative wherein passengers Aadhaar details could be used for biometric-enabled boarding process.AAI's chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said the changing profile of air passengers in the country along with safety is a challenge and technology would play a big role in meeting such challenges.While the full operational contours of such a system are still being worked out, once in place, the passengers can get entry using their biometrics for a seamless boarding process.Under the Digi Yatra initiative, the civil aviation ministry plans to make boarding pass and security check-in digital.With the initiative, the idea is to securely identify travellers through Aadhaar number, passport or other documents.
Indian airport brings in face recognition
