By Biometrics Ushering in ‘New Era in Travel’ as Airports, Airlines Continue to Be Sweet Spots
by Joel R. McConvey | Biometric Update
A fascinating experiment in biometrics would be to find a privacy conscious person who would generally avoid facial recognition, put them in a four-hour customs line at the airport and ask if they’d like to save half the day by using the biometric access lane.
Long lineups are the worst at airports. Shuffling through flimsy guardrails, dragging luggage, counting the number of people ahead: it is among the more demoralizing experiences in access control. SITA’s newly released 2024 Passenger IT Insights report says 64 percent of passengers highlight shorter airport queues as the most important improvement to the travel process they’d like to see. Meanwhile, air travel is booming, with passenger numbers hitting 5.2 billion in 2023.
So, it should come as no surprise that air travel continues to be a maven for biometric technology that makes the airport less of a headache. While there are lingering data privacy concerns and an education gap around standards and regulations, more passengers are opting for the quicker biometric option. SITA says 67 percent of travelers now “rate their comfort levels with biometrics relatively highly.” Airports are paying attention, investing an estimated US$10.8 billion in IT in 2023.
In a release, David Lavorel, CEO of SITA, says the world is “on the cusp of a new era in travel, as unprecedented demand converges with technological innovations that have the power to revolutionize the journey. The appetite from passengers is clear: they’re eager to embrace the latest digital solutions to make their experience swifter and more streamlined than ever before.”
Lavorel says the industry needs to move towards greater usage of digital travel credentials (DTCs) and that “responsibility falls to the industry to make sure travelers are fully informed of the advanced data security and privacy-preserving potential of biometrics.”
The sales pitch is easily sweetened with other time-saving use cases, particularly “smart luggage solutions like baggage tracking on mobile devices and off-airport baggage collection and drop-off services.” Read Full Article >
