Beginning September 2026, Air Canada passengers can enroll through the airline’s mobile app to access a new facial-recognition biometric gate at Toronto Pearson International Airport. This enrollment feature supports one of four biometric e-gates involved in a pilot program at the airport.
Configuration of Biometric Gate Pilot at Toronto Pearson
The pilot includes one domestic biometric gate and three additional biometric gates serving travelers bound for the United States operating within Pearson’s transborder area. Domestic travelers must opt in through the Air Canada app prior to arrival at the gate. Their live facial image is captured and compared to the airline’s stored identity gallery to verify identity. When
matched, this process replaces the conventional requirement to show both passport and boarding pass.
US-bound passengers follow a distinct process due to preclearance procedures at Pearson, which already record traveler facial images. Consequently, the three transborder biometric gates match live boarding images against existing traveler data without separate advance registration.
Suppliers and System Integration for Biometric Gates
Dormakaba supplies the physical biometric gate hardware used in the pilot. Middleware software that links the gates to passenger identity systems is provided by Airsphere and SITA. Air Canada supplies the domestic enrollment software and manages the identity gallery for passenger records, supporting biometric verification within the domestic gate.
Pilot Participation, Passenger Impact, and Airport Modernization
Participation
in the biometric gate pilot at Toronto Pearson is voluntary, with traditional document checks remaining available. The airport monitors metrics including pilot adoption rates, processing durations, passenger throughput, and customer satisfaction while operating the system.
Toronto Pearson manages approximately 47 million passengers annually and projects growth to 65 million by the early 2030s. The airport’s modernization strategy integrates digital identity and automated processing technologies to accommodate rising passenger volumes, with this biometric pilot contributing to those efforts by testing two enrollment methods that combine airline app enrollment and government-held travel records.
Background on Biometric Identity Pilots in Canada
This biometric gate pilot extends Air Canada’s earlier initiatives
that connected smartphone enrollment with facial recognition at airports. Elsewhere in Canada, Calgary Airport has deployed a separate biometric boarding system that uses selfie onboarding techniques.
Currently, the pilot at Toronto Pearson is confined to boarding processes and continues to explore how mobile airline apps and digital identities can support automated passenger actions at airport gates.
