Shannon Airport building. Credit: Wolf32at.

Shannon Airport in Ireland has deployed biometric facial recognition technology to speed up its security screening process.

With its implementation, it has become the first airport in Europe install facial recognition technology for US preclearance.

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In 2016 Shannon Airport was said to have become the first in the world to operate a combined EU and US TSA checkpoint. It reduced the time spent in security screening by half at other preclearance airports.

The facial recognition system has already been successfully implemented in a number of airports across the US and was also extended to Aruba Airport in the Caribbean.

“We’re coming to the end of our busiest summer season on transatlantic since the early part of the last decade and anything that speeds up queues and enhances security is a major plus.”

Using the facial recognition technology, the security personnel at the airport verify passengers by matching them to the documents they are presenting.

Shannon Airport operations director Niall Maloney said: “Being the first airport in Europe to have this groundbreaking technology installed reaffirms Shannon’s status in transatlantic aviation. We were the first to get preclearance and now we’re the first to pilot this technology.

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“Ultimately, the big gain here is that this is the latest enhancement to passenger services at Shannon. We’re coming to the end of our busiest summer season on transatlantic since the early part of the last decade and anything that speeds up queues and enhances security is a major plus.”

Shannon Airport, which is operated by Shannon Airport Authority, is located on the west coast of Ireland 24km north of Limerick city.

Last year, more than 1.75 million passengers passed through the airport, a slight increase compared to 2016.