SINGAPORE: Travellers at Singapore’s Changi Airport are now able to clear immigration in as little as 10 seconds, thanks to the airport’s advanced facial recognition and iris biometric technology.
The Edge Singapore reported that since the introduction of full facial scanning on Sept 30, the average immigration clearance time for travellers has decreased by 60%, from 25 seconds to just 10, according to a statement posted on Thursday (Oct 24) by Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
Changi Airport, often ranked among the world’s best airports, now offers passport-less clearance at all four terminals.
For Singapore residents, including permanent residents and long-term pass holders, this means they can use facial and iris biometrics for both arrivals and departures, bypassing the need to show a passport.
However, foreign visitors must still present documentation upon arrival in Singapore but can use passport-less clearance for departure.
According to the ICA, as of Oct 15, close to 1.5 million travellers have already used the passport-less system to clear immigration. The airport has reported 49.9 million passengers passing through its terminals in the year up to September, a sign that Changi’s passenger traffic is returning to pre-pandemic levels.
From July to September this year, Changi Airport’s passenger traffic rose to 16.8 million—a 10% increase from the same period last year—bringing numbers to 97.4% of third-quarter 2019, pre-pandemic levels. /TISG
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