Emirates unveils passport-free facial recognition flying at GITEX

Emirates airline demonstrated new technology at GITEX 2019 that will allow customers to fly with no passport, no boarding pass, and no fingerprints. The technology uses facial recognition to screen customers, and will be coming to Dubai Airport in 2020. GITEX 2019 is a tech exhibition which took place in the Dubai World Trade Centre from 6-10 October. The show featured many conference speakers on topics such as ‘The 5G Countdown’, ‘Smart Citi Zens’ and ‘The Future of Being’. Among the companies which exhibited at the show were Huawei, Nokia, Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi and Ericsson. In a LinkedIn post, Senior Vice President at the Dubai World Trade Centre Trixie LohMirmand commented on the new technology: “No passport, no boarding pass, no fingerprints. From check-in, immigration to boarding gate. All you need is just a smile. “The world’s first future travel is coming in 2020 to Dubai Airport by Emirates and General Directorate Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai.” Commenters on the post discussed the issue of data security, and asked who has access to the facial recognition data which is generated from the new technology.