For Immediate Release
january 18, 2018

Contact:
Charles H. Pannunzio
(424) 646-5260

A British Airways passenger uses facial-recognition technology to board a flight to London during biometric "E-Gate" testing at LAX.

(Los Angeles, California) Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), British Airways, and Vision-Box officials were on hand in the Tom Bradley International Terminal this afternoon to observe passengers boarding BA Flight 280 to London Heathrow International Airport with a rather unique credential – their own faces.  

In addition to the Boeing 777, British Airways is scheduled to use facial-recognition technology developed by Vision-Box and supported by CBP to board an Airbus A-380, also bound for London Heathrow, later in the evening.  

Following testing of the equipment late last year, LAWA and British Airways are continuing a pilot program to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology by using it for two nightly departures to London.  

“Biometric boarding, where a passenger’s face is their boarding pass, merges two of our highest priorities – improving the guest experience and enhancing security and safety for all those who travel through or work at LAX,” said Los Angeles Airport Commissioner Gabriel Eshaghian. “These biometric boarding gates are one more way in which LAX is leading the pack, embracing and implementing innovative technology that will help create the world-class airport that Los Angeles deserves.”

Los Angeles World Airports Chief Innovation and Commercial Strategy Officer Justin Erbacci speaks during a Thursday afternoon news conference prior to an "E-Gates" boarding.

“These E-Gates use emerging technology to enable a faster and easier boarding process for passengers while at the same time furthering the mandate of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to safeguard our borders and protect the public from dangerous people and materials,” said Justin Erbacci, LAWA’s Chief Innovation and Commercial Strategy Officer. “LAX is proud to be the first location in the United States to pilot this unique, paperless, biometric boarding process.”  

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has a congressional mandate to implement a biometric exit system at its ports of entry, and has been working with LAWA’s Information Management and Technology Group on the testing of this equipment at LAX. Each passenger’s photo is captured by the E-Gate system and then sent to CBP for matching to the digital photo captured at the initial immigration process.  

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Biometric Exit Program is successfully modernizing the way travelers interact with airports, airlines and CBP—creating a seamless travel process that is both reliable and secure,” said Carlos C. Martel, Director of CBP Office of Field Operations in Los Angeles. “CBP is leading nationwide efforts to streamline the travel process by providing the air travel industry a secure platform for identifying and matching travelers to their identities at multiple points in the travel process, and more predictable, by establishing a clear, easily-understood boarding process.”  

British Airways was the first to test this “one-step,” contactless process that relies on the facial recognition capabilities of the system alone, rather than coupled with a boarding pass.  

“At the heart of our operation will always be our frontline colleagues and we know that frequent flyers want to travel quickly and easily through the airport – and benefit from the advantages of self-serve technology,” said Raoul Cooper, British Airways’ Airport Transformation Design Manager. “Our aim is for customers to have a seamless experience when they travel with us, and we want to put our customers in complete control of their own journey. This step forward to modernize our operation is a first in the industry, and we will continue to work with airports around the world to evolve this technology, and revolutionize the way in which people travel.”  

The Vision-Box e-Gates have been installed at Gates 152, 154 and 156 in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, and additional airlines are making plans to test the technology.  

“We are very proud to have come up with an industry-changing solution that all stakeholders can rely on,” said Miguel Leitmann, Chief Executive Officer of Vision-Box. In the end, it’s about collaboratively raising security and efficiency standards, while eliminating choke points from the airport journey, offering frictionless interactions and the best experience passengers until they’re comfortably seated on the aircraft. That is a seamless passenger journey.”

British Airways has posted a time-lapse video of the boarding of an A-380 on Wednesday night. The video can be downloaded by clicking here.  

About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

LAX is the fourth busiest airport in the world, second in the United States, and was named one of Skytrax’ 2017 Top 10 Most Improved Airports. LAX served more than 80.9 million passengers in 2016. LAX offers 737 daily nonstop flights to 100 cities in the U.S. and 1,386 weekly nonstop flights to 88 cities in 44 countries on 73 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.2 million tons of air cargo valued at over $101.4 billion. LAX handled 697,138 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2016. An economic study based on 2014 operations reported LAX generated 620,600 jobs in Southern California with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX’s ongoing capital-improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion, $966 million in state and local taxes, and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.

LAX is also the second most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram according to wego.com. LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund. For more information about LAX, please visit www.flyLAX.com rel="noopener noreferrer" or follow on Twitter @flyLAXAirport, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LAInternationalAirport, rel="noopener noreferrer" and on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/laxairport1. Information about LAX’s ongoing multi-billion-dollar LAX Modernization Program, as well as tips rel="noopener noreferrer" and shortcuts to help navigate LAX during construction, are available at www.LAXisHappening.com. As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.