William P. Hobby International Airport in Houston became the latest to incorporate facial recognition biometric exit technology for select flights this week, building a pilot program launched at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in June 2016.
Through biometric exit technology, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) compiles a photo gallery for certain flights using photographs provided by travelers to the airline. Then, live photos are compared to photos in the gallery to determine if the traveler is the actual person identified in the flight manifest.
“Through our consultations with the airlines and airport stakeholders, and based on the success of several pilots, CBP determined that facial recognition was a viable exit solution,” John Wagner, the deputy executive assistant commissioner of the office of field operations at CBP, said. “With the expansion of this technology we will be looking at different flights, airports, lighting conditions and internal IT configurations to demonstrate to our stakeholders that this solution is flexible, reliable and easy for travelers to use.”
If American citizens’ boarding photo matches the photo appearing in the passport, the technology is able to automatically exclude them from biometric testing and those photos are deleted after a short period of time to protect the travellers’ privacy.
CBP also recently deployed biometric exit technology at Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.