Air Canada has rolled out in-app enrolment for its digital identification programme at Toronto Pearson International Airport, allowing domestic passengers to register their facial biometrics before arriving at the gate. The pilot, launched on September 16 2026, uses four e-gates supplied by Dormakaba: one for domestic departures and three for US-bound transborder flights. Once a traveller opts in through the Air Canada mobile app, a live photo captured at boarding is matched against an encrypted template stored in the airline’s identity gallery, replacing the final passport-and-boarding-pass check. For transborder routes, Pearson leverages images already collected during US pre-clearance, so no separate enrolment is required. Airport operator GTAA says the technology is part of a broader capacity-expansion plan that aims to handle 65 million passengers by the early 2030s without adding large amounts of physical infrastructure. Early metrics being tracked include passenger throughput, gate-hold area dwell times and customer-satisfaction scores. For business travellers, the pilot promises shorter queues and a largely touchless experience—important as companies resume frequent trips and seek friction-free itineraries for senior staff. Participation remains voluntary, so duty-of-care teams should brief travellers on the opt-in process and privacy implications before adoption scales across Air Canada’s network.
Source: Travel and Tour News
