Vietnam has launched a pilot biometric boarding system at the newly-inaugurated Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.
The biometric system lets passengers complete the entire check-in and boarding process using facial recognition and electronic identification, eliminating the need for paper documents.
Travellers can check in, drop baggage, clear security, and board flights through automated gates using their chipped ID cards or digital IDs. This process is expected to save millions of processing hours annually, delivering economic value estimated at tens of trillions of Vietnamese dong each year.
At this stage of the pilot, foreigners without Vietnamese digital identity credentials cannot use the full biometric boarding system. Only those with permanent or temporary Vietnamese residence cards may access certain automated exit procedures, but not the full biometric boarding journey intended for Vietnamese citizens
As Vietnam’s largest domestic passenger terminal, Terminal 3 has a capacity for 20 million passengers annually, bringing the airport’s total capacity to 50 million.
“The implementation of biometric identification for boarding procedures at Terminal T3 is a practical response to Vietnam’s push for breakthroughs in science and technology, innovation and digital transformation,” said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the inauguration ceremony.
Entelechy Asia 