Airport Authority Hong Kong clinches HKB Technology Excellence Awards 2024 for innovative biometric solution

Its Flight Token Travel has streamlined airport operations to enable a seamless experience for customers.

Statutory body Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) was lauded at the prestigious HKB Technology Excellence Awards 2024 for its innovative Flight Token Travel solution that aims to provide a seamless departure experience by reducing the need for repetitive document checks and queuing time.

Facial Recognition - Aerospace

Combining expertise in document verification and biometric authentication, the Flight Token Travel enables passengers to pass through departure checkpoints simply by showing their faces. This technology applies an automated process to streamline airport processes: from check-in to boarding.

A digital Flight Token is created at the back end once a passenger completes the check-in process. The solution extracts the passenger’s passport and boarding pass information, eliminating the need to show travel documents and boarding pass repeatedly at different checkpoints.

Passengers using the self-bag drop facilities only need to show their faces at the camera and the identity verification process is completed almost instantly. With all available contact gates at HKIA empowered by biometrics, passengers no longer required to have manual document check at the security and boarding checkpoints in a similar fashion.

The Flight Token Travel solution harnesses video analytics and artificial intelligence innovatively to detect unauthorised trespass or babies carried by adults, which is limited or unavailable for automated gates of the current industrial standard, in a bid to raise the security and safety with innovation to the highest level.

This product is underpinned by the Smart Airport vision of Hong Kong International Airport. The airport continues to work closely with its business partners and technology companies to develop innovative solutions to redefine passenger processes.

HKIA has set new standards in the industry with this solution. The Flight Token Travel has resulted in a faster bag drop process, security check process, immigration completion, and onboarding process. It has also led to fewer manpower resources and customer satisfaction.

Beyond delivering innovative passenger journeys, the solution brings positive impacts on the wider airport community. The touchless Flight Token Travel procedures minimise touching of public facility surfaces and reduce people interaction, which is opportune amidst post-COVID-19 airport operations.

The automated identity verification also optimises resources of other airport stakeholders, such as eliminating manual checking by airline staff for more effective personnel deployment.

“HKIA made great strides in adopting innovative technologies to raise the bar of the Flight Token Travel, with unique inventions that cannot be found in similar solutions adopted by other airports,” the agency said.

It brought home the title in the Facial Recognition - Aerospace category.

The HKB Technology Excellence Awards celebrates innovation and excellence in Hong Kong's dynamic tech landscape, highlighting companies that lead the way in technological disruptions within their industries.

The Hong Kong Business Technology Excellence Awards is presented by Hong Kong Business Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2025 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's outstanding contributions in pursuit of technological innovation, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected]