Passengers flying domestic flights in India will soon be able to leave their ID cards and boarding passes at home. The Ministry of Civil Aviation recently announced that flyers in that country can opt for using biometric authentication to pass through airport security checkpoints.

The measure, which will introduce facial recognition technology to airports all across India in 2019, is intended to help with the growing issue of congestion at airports in that country, which has experienced a six-fold surge in the number of citizens flying in the past decade.

Passengers opting to undergo biometric screening can expect to have their picture taken at each stage of the check-in process to verify their identity. This process will begin as soon as the passenger enters the airport and will continue as they pass through security and board the plane.

"Security will benefit from the ability of the technology to verify the passenger at every checkpoint in a non-intrusive way," Ministry Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey said.

The facial recognition technology will first be used at the Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports in February 2019 and will then be installed at airports in Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada by the following April.