Facial recognition technology has been installed in the T2 terminal building of Harbin Taiping International Airport, with the aim of providing extra convenience to passengers who need to apply for a temporary identity certificate.

Statistics from the airport’s public security bureau reveal that there were a total of 49,000 passengers applying for temporary identity certificates in 2017, with 300 per day issued at peak times.

The new machine allows Chinese nationals to reissue a temporary identity certificate for boarding domestic flights.

Compared with the traditional manual service for reissuing ID certificates, which involves taking a photograph, filling in ID information and identity verification; the machine allows a temporary ID certificate to be issued in less than 60 seconds, with the scanning of a passenger’s face and the entry of an ID number.

If a passenger’s face cannot be recognized by the machine, due to changes in appearance or household registration, then they can still apply for an ID certificate to be issued manually by the airport’s public security bureau.