The changes are designed for a “smoother” system at the Asian hub, which welcomed more than 5 million passengers last month.
You will soon no longer need a passport to travel to Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Starting in 2024, the busy transport hub will replace passport controls with automated immigration and boarding processes.
Biometric technology and facial recognition will be used to allow passengers to fly without passports or boarding passes.
However, passengers will still need to carry travel documents for embarking and disembarking in other countries.
How is Singapore airport technology changing?
Changi has long been ahead of the curve in the airport stakes.
With the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, a spacious butterfly garden, and a rock climbing wall, it is consistently rated one of the best airports in the world.
Biometric technology is already part of large airports futuristic Touch. It uses technology to some extent in automated lanes at immigration.
But the move to full biometrics once again calls into question Singaporethe airport in front of the crowd.
“Biometrics will be used to create a single authentication token that will be used across various automated touchpoints luggage storage to immigration and boarding,” says Communications Minister Josephine Teo.
“This will reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at these contact points, allowing for smoother and more convenient processing.”
More than 5 million passengers passed through Changi Airport in August this year, so speed and efficiency are key.
Teo adds that Singapore will become “one of the first few countries in the world” to introduce such changes, which are expected to launch in the first half of 2024.
Singapore also has the most powerful passport in the world
Singaporeans may feel particularly proud of them passportseven as physical documents start to become less important at home.
Their country ranked first in the Henley Passport Index rankings this year, displacing Japan from first place.
This is because Singaporeans enjoy visa-free access to 192 out of 227 travel destinations around the world.
The country has climbed the rankings, gaining visa-free access to 25 other nations in the past 10 years.
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