The Brazilian carriers GOL Linhas Aéreas and LATAM Brazil have launched a new service offering boarding with facial recognition to customers. This technology will allow check-in and boarding through facial biometrics and is available now at Congonhas (CGH) and Santos Dumont (SDU) airports in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
On Tuesday, GOL introduced a technology allowing boarding with facial recognition on domestic flights. The new functionality is available at the São Paulo/Congonhas (CGH) and Rio de Janeiro/Santos Dumont (SDU) airports, and the entire process is carried out through the GOL app.
By introducing this new technology, GOL aims to expedite their clients' boarding process, improving the passenger experience when flying with the Brazilian carrier. José Luiz Belixior Jr., GOL's customer service director, said,
"GOL spares no effort to improve our customers' journey, making their travel experience more comfortable and rewarding. Offering passengers a feature like Facial Recognition Boarding that promotes speed and more security in vital processes such as check-in and boarding, especially at busy airports like Congonhas and Santos Dumont, is a big step towards the full digitalization of commercial aviation services."
GOL offers 875 weekly domestic flights departing from these two airports, with around 155,646 seats available.
Since 2020, LATAM Brazil has tested biometric facial recognition on boardings in the airports of Brasilia (BSB), Salvador (SSA), and Florianopolis (FLN). Around 5,000 LATAM passengers have already tested that technology, which allowed LATAM to fully introduce facial biometrics at Congonhas and São Paulo. LATAM Brazil offers 1,031 domestic flights from these two hubs each week, with 165,714 seats available.
The innovative project at Congonhas and Santos Dumont airports, called "Boarding + Secure," was made possible in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Infrastructure, Serpro (the company that developed the technological solution), and Infraero (the operator of the two airports), enabling passengers to board in a fast, practical and safe way, as the name suggests. In addition, the service waives the need for passengers to present an identification document and boarding pass.
LATAM also added QR Codes at several points inside Congonhas and Santos Dumont. These QR Codes allow customers to enroll themselves and activate their facial biometrics more quickly by simply taking a selfie.
At the airport, facial biometrics will be used in two stages: first, at the access to the departure lounge; then at the access to the aircraft. At the entrance to the departure lounge, totems will read the biometric face, consulting the government database and checking the passenger's registration and the existence of a valid boarding pass. Once the biometrics have been approved, the passenger is authorized to enter the terminal. The second step will take place at the boarding gate, at the moment of entering the aircraft.
With biometrics, the average boarding time has dropped from 8 seconds to 6 seconds per passenger (average time). This means that with biometrics, it will be possible to process more boardings in the same time as the current processing, corresponding to a gain of 25% more boardings. Travelers can choose between the system and the traditional check-in and boarding procedures, which remain available.