WestJet has begun testing touchless facial recognition technology as a means of verifying passengers’ identities before getting on a flight. The pre-boarding trial, conducted in Calgary on Wednesday, is the first of its kind in Canada, and marks the first step towards government approval that would allow the airline to use the process at Canadian airports.

The airline says the trial of its ‘Trusted Boarding’ program, developed in partnership with TELUS, successfully demonstrated that the responsible use of biometric boarding technology provides sufficient document validation and prevents non-authorized individuals from boarding an aircraft.

Trial passengers boarded WestJet flight 8901 through facial verification with a TELUS digital identity wallet on biometric hardware and boarding application at Gate 88.

The contactless document validation, where a facial verification scan is matched with a traveller’s documentation that has been uploaded to the app prior to boarding, also ensures that users retain control of their personal information at all times, meaning they can securely share their verified personal credentials and revoke access when the data is no longer needed.

“The travel experience is evolving to include many touchless processes and WestJet is innovating to ensure our guests’ travel journey improves to become more seamless and efficient, while prioritizing safety above all,” said WestJet executive VP Stuart McDonald. “The Trusted Boarding trial is a union between technology and WestJet that would in the future help our agents and our guests with contactless document validation.”

Ibrahim Gedeon added, “As air travel gradually reopens, the passenger experience continues to evolve… This level of control establishes and increases consumer trust by addressing privacy, security, and ethical data risks from the start, while providing transparency to customers.”