AirAsia enters Malaysia Book of Records again for facial recognition first

Photo Caption: (Second from right) Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) Chief Operating Officer Christopher Wong Hong Wai presented the MBR certificate for FACES to AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Digital, Transformation and Corporate Services) Aireen Omar, witnessed by Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sports, YB Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman at AirAsia headquarters, RedQ, today.

SEPANG, 6 September 2018 - AirAsia earned its second entry into the Malaysia Book of Records as The First Airline to Introduce Facial Recognition Technology in Malaysia for the airline’s recent innovation, the Fast Airport Clearance Experience System (FACES).

Fully owned and operated by AirAsia, FACES is Malaysia’s first airport facial recognition system with self-boarding gate. The system uses facial recognition technology to identify enrolled guests as they approach the automated boarding gate, allowing them to board their flight without having to present any travel documents. FACES is available at Senai International Airport, Johor Bahru.

To date, about 73,000 guests have enrolled via FACES, with enrolment increasing from an average of 8,000 guests per month following its launch in February to June to about 12,000 guests per month currently. AirAsia is now working on further developing and refining the technology for implementation across all airports in Malaysia.

The record certification was presented by Malaysia Book of Records Chief Operating Officer Christopher Wong Hong Wai to AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Digital, Transformation and Corporate Services) Aireen Omar, witnessed by Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sports, YB Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman at AirAsia headquarters, RedQ, today.

AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Digital, Transformation and Corporate Services) Aireen Omar said, “FACES allows us to transform our guests’ airport experience and improve the boarding process while reducing the amount of time it takes to board an aircraft. We are proud to be the first airline in Malaysia and Asia to offer a seamless travel experience from check-in to boarding with the latest facial recognition technology. We would like to thank Malaysia Book of Records for recognising our efforts in providing cutting-edge services for our guests.”

AirAsia is a pioneer in adopting new technologies to improve travel experience. The airline was one of the first to introduce SMS booking in 2003, followed by its website airasia.com and mobile app, which were named the World’s Leading Low-Cost Airline Website and World’s Leading Low-Cost Airline App respectively at the 2015 World Travel Awards.

AirAsia was also an early adopter of airport self-service kiosks that allow guests to check in, print their boarding pass and bag tags, and introduced home bag tags and self bag drop functions for additional convenience.

Earlier this year, AirAsia partnered with Palantir, a company based in Palo Alto, California that specialises in big data analysis to carry out data science projects on their platform across AirAsia’s various business functions over the next five years. These functions will include guest experience, inflight sales, route revenue, finance, security, flight operations, network planning, cargo, supply chain management, commercial and people development.

AirAsia garnered the first entry into the Malaysia Book of Records in 2014 as the First Airline to Provide Wi-Fi On-Board in Malaysia with its ROKKI inflight entertainment and connectivity service.

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