Just over a month after introducing passport-free clearance, the system at Changi Airport Terminal 1 experienced an outage.
This led to passengers having to queue for manual clearance.
Source: Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on Facebook
A passenger who declined to be named told Shin Min Daily News that this happened at about 12.40am on Sunday (3 Nov).
He had completed his check-in procedures at Terminal 1 and had entered the transit area to undergo immigration clearance via the automated lanes.
However, all 40 gantries — which operate via facial recognition, with no passport necessary — had malfunctioned, he said.
When this happened, ground staff opened counters and asked passengers to queue up for manual clearance.
While there were two counters at first, the number was later increased to five.
This resulted in more than 50 passengers having to queue up, he said.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
After about 30 minutes, he started getting worried about missing his flight as there were still 10 people in front of him, he added.
He informed the ground staff about this and they let him use the priority queue.
Fortunately, he was just in time for his flight, he said.
In response to queries from Shin Min, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the outage was due to a “system issue”.
ICA immediately deployed more manpower for the manual immigration counters and crowd control purposes, it added.
Travellers with imminent departing flights had expedited clearance at manual counters and the Duty Office.
Hence, no passengers missed their flights as a result of the outage, which was resolved at about 2.40am.
Other terminals were not affected. The authorities are investigating the cause of the system outage.
ICA regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers and thanked them for their understanding, patience and cooperation with ground crew.
Passport-less clearance was fully implemented across all four Changi Airport terminals since 30 Sept, ICA said in a press release on 24 Oct.
All Singapore residents entering and leaving the country are now able to clear immigration using facial and iris biometrics, without the need to present their passports.
Source: Changi Airport on Facebook
Foreign visitors can also enjoy passport-less clearance when they depart Singapore.
As of 15 Oct, close to 1.5 million travellers have used passport-less immigration clearance, reducing the average clearance time for each traveller by 60%, ICA added.
Also read: Baggage X-ray scanner catches fire at Changi Airport Terminal 1, flight delayed by 2 hours
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on Facebook.
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