Switzerland Advances Facial Recognition System Usage in Airports

Switzerland is poised to extend facial recognition technology in all its airports, from voluntary customs checks to integrating biometrics into check-in, baggage drop-off, and boarding processes. This step is a new path of success to implement such technologies at major European airports and resonates with the aviation industry’s efforts for contactless travel. 

The meaningful amendment to the Swiss Aviation Act has the purpose of creating a regulatory structure for large biometric adoption. However, this type of change has provided the chance for airlines including regions of weak data protect laws-to get access to passenger biometric data. Besides, Zurich and Geneva have appealed for such legal adjustments to increase functional efficiency and smoothen the passenger movement. Including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, and Vienna other European airports have already implemented facial recognition for Swiss flights. Furthermore, Star Alliance passengers can catch flights without showing their physical papers by using the Star Alliance Biometric system, this system has gradually been implemented since 2020. 

Biometric Expansion in Airports

Zurich and Geneva airports are developing facial recognition technology for passenger monitoring, check-in, baggage drop-off, and security checks. Geneva installed biometric-equipped systems in 2021, but they are not operational. Under current Swiss data protection laws, consent is necessary to process biometric data, although aviation authorities are lobbying for legislative changes to eliminate this requirement. The move is part of a wider drive for frictionless, touchless passenger processing in the wake of the pandemic. Zurich Airport also aims to develop “biometrically enriched profiles” to improve passenger movement, following the European efforts to have digital identity systems in place for more efficiency and security.