Kuala Lumpur Int. Airport Trials Single Token Journey Technology

Passengers travelling to Japan were the first to experience the Single Token Journey concept at KL International Airport on Wednesday.

The single token journey concept utilises facial recognition technology providing passengers with one single identification verification that will take them through all the airport touchpoints, from check-in to the boarding gate. It is part of an initiative that aims to transform KLIA into a smart airport through the use of big data analytics (BDA).

Sumesh Patel, SITA President Asia Pacific, said, “With SITA Smart Path, your face becomes your boarding pass and passport, eliminating the need for passengers to provide travel documents repeatedly throughout the airport. We look forward to working with Malaysia Airports and Malaysia Airlines to deliver an elevated customer experience through this new biometric technology for ID management.”

The concept is being piloted for a period of three months in collaboration with Malaysia Airlines and SITA, a leading air transport specialist in communications and information technology.

During the trial period, passengers on two daily Malaysia Airlines flights to Narita International Airport and Kansai International Airport in Osaka will be able to experience the new system.

Facial recognition scanners have been placed at check-in counters H5 to H8, and e-gates have been placed at the security screening touchpoints and at the boarding gates. Passengers on these flights will only need to scan their faces to verify their ‘token’ at all the touchpoints. They no longer need to present their passports or boarding passes when going through these checkpoints.

Malaysia Aviation Group chief executive officer (CEO), Captain Izham Ismail, said, “The single-token journey concept is a collaboration with Malaysia Airports, which will allow our passengers to enjoy reduced check-in time and identity verification within seconds. As this is the trial period, we will make this option available first to passengers flying into Tokyo and Osaka to gather feedback and monitor their acceptance rate. The single-token will also help manage the queue at our check-in counters, especially during peak periods, and we hope to fully adopt this system by quarter four of 2020.”

The single-token biometric ID approach no longer requires checking of any physical identity at the various multiple checkpoints because all data has been disseminated to all relevant parties such as the airlines, immigration and customs.

See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: SITA, KLIA, KL, Kuala Lumpur, Biometrics.