Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, one of the city’s two major airports, introduced on Monday China’s first automated clearance system for airline passengers using facial recognition technology.

The automated clearance procedure was deployed at Shanghai Hongqiao’s Terminal One and includes unassisted passenger check-in, luggage check-in, security check and boarding, according to a statement posted on the Shanghai government’s official website.

It said the project, which took three years to complete, installed eight self-security checking machines at the terminal. These machines scan passengers’ ID cards and make use of facial recognition technology to complete the security check process in about 12 seconds.

The system in Shanghai moved ahead of a planned deployment of facial recognition technology in Beijing’s new USD 12 billion airport, which is designed to handle up to 100 million passengers a year at full capacity.