Robust face identification system in complex airport environment, which can identify certain candidates from a crowd of people in real time, is in urgent demand. S-AdaBoost is discussed in this paper as a variant of AdaBoost to handle real world environment. The Face Identification System for Airports (F1SA), based upon SAdaBoost algorithm, is implemented in an international airport. Comparison of results obtained from FISA with those from other leading face identification approaches based on FISA database clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of FISA in real airport environment.