- Taipei Songshan Airport has launched the One ID system for international travelers to streamline departures.
- The facial recognition technology reduces processing time by 30% and luggage drop to just 70 seconds.
- Personal data is deleted within 24 hours to ensure privacy and adhere to cybersecurity standards.
(TAIPEI) — Taipei’s Songshan Airport launched the “One ID” facial recognition system for international flights, allowing passengers to move from check-in to boarding by using facial recognition instead of repeatedly presenting travel documents.
The new system covers several points in the passenger journey. Registered travelers can use One ID to check in for flights, check and drop luggage, pass through customs, enter airport lounges and board flights.
Standard immigration and passport inspection procedures still apply. The biometric process changes how passengers move through the airport, but it does not replace the required document checks at immigration.
Songshan Airport has installed 48 smart devices to run the system. That network includes 18 self-check-in kiosks, 12 self-baggage drop machines, 6 e-gates for immigration and 12 boarding gates, with two at each of the six international departure gates.
Airport officials are using the rollout to test whether a biometric process can shorten lines and reduce staffing pressure in a compact international terminal. Songshan Airport handles approximately 2.8 million international passengers per year and is Taiwan’s first airport to implement this biometric system.
The airport said the facial recognition system has a 95% success rate. It can cut processing time by up to 30% and manpower needs by 20% during peak periods.
Check-in waits at peak times are currently around 10 minutes. The airport expects broader use of the system to push those waits lower while also reducing labor costs tied to routine passenger handling.
Bag drop is one of the clearest tests of the new process. When biometric authentication is integrated into that step, the full bag drop procedure can be completed in as little as 70 seconds.
The system also adds a registration step before travelers can use biometric processing across the terminal. Passengers can complete that registration either at a check-in desk or at a self-check-in kiosk.
That setup matters because One ID works across multiple airport touchpoints rather than at a single gate or counter. Once registered, passengers can move through the supported parts of the airport process with facial recognition, rather than stopping to present documents each time.
Songshan Airport’s rollout puts the emphasis on continuity across the terminal. The same biometric identity can link check-in, baggage handling, lounge entry and boarding, while customs access is also part of the supported journey.
Officials paired the efficiency case with data security measures. Passenger and flight information is automatically deleted from the One ID system within 24 hours of a traveler’s departure, and the system adheres to government cybersecurity standards.
That deletion window addresses one of the central questions tied to any facial recognition system at an airport: how long personal travel data remains in the network after a trip ends. At Songshan Airport, the operating model calls for that information to be removed within a day of departure.
The launch also gives Taiwan an operating test bed for airport biometrics at a time when terminals are under pressure to move passengers faster without expanding counter space. Songshan Airport is a smaller international gateway than many regional hubs, which makes device placement and processing speed especially visible in day-to-day operations.
The current infrastructure shows where the airport expects the heaviest gains. Self-check-in kiosks and self-baggage drop machines account for 30 of the 48 installed devices, suggesting the biggest immediate focus is on the front end of the departure process, where lines can build quickly before passengers reach immigration and boarding areas.
The six e-gates for immigration and the twelve boarding gates extend the same identity check deeper into the terminal. That arrangement allows the airport to test whether one biometric enrollment can remain reliable from the first counter interaction to the final gate scan.
Songshan Airport has not removed staff from the process. Immigration and passport checks remain mandatory, and the airport’s own figures on reduced manpower refer to peak periods rather than a full replacement of personnel.
The 20% reduction in manpower needs during busy periods points instead to a different operating goal: shifting staff away from repetitive document handling and toward exceptions, troubleshooting and passengers who do not use biometric registration. That split is common to airport automation projects, where self-service and staffed processing often run side by side.
Success will depend on whether passengers choose to enroll in enough numbers to change traffic flow. The airport said wider adoption is expected to reduce check-in wait times and labor costs further, a result that would be easier to measure at an airport already handling millions of international travelers each year.
Because Songshan Airport is the first in Taiwan to adopt the system, officials plan to evaluate whether it should be expanded to other international airports. That review will turn on the same figures the airport highlighted at launch: a 95% facial recognition success rate, processing time reductions of up to 30%, and whether a bag can keep moving from counter to belt in as little as 70 seconds.
The test now moves from installation to daily use, as international passengers decide whether One ID offers a faster way through Songshan Airport while the airport measures whether a facial recognition system can deliver shorter waits, lower staffing pressure and a full terminal journey built around a single biometric check.
