The majority of airlines (84 per cent) and airports (81 per cent) expect to spend the same or more in 2022 compared to 2021, with spending on automation of passenger processing seeing a significant rise. This compares to 56 per cent of airlines and 67 per cent of airports that planned investment in automated passenger service in 2021. Creating a more streamlined and digitally enabled journey to boost passenger confidence and enhance convenience is a priority for airlines and airports.
This year’s IT Insights identifies passenger health certificate verification as an area for urgent attention as airlines and airports invest in digitising the process. During 2021, staff across 81 per cent of airlines resorted to performing manual verifications of health certificates in paper or scanned format. However, airlines want to automate the process over the next three years, with the majority investing in verification via a mobile app (51 per cent) and nearly half investing in kiosk-enabled health checks (45 per cent).
The majority of airlines (84 per cent) and airports (81 per cent) expect to spend the same or more in 2022 compared to 2021, says SITA
Digital passenger health certification is also an urgent requirement for airports with a need to standardise approaches to verification. To accommodate growing passenger traffic and anticipated congestion, nearly half of major airports surveyed plan to implement mobile app-enabled verification. Almost a third have plans for verification through kiosks by 2024.
Airline investment is also increasing in areas such as self-service through mobile services, unassisted bag drop, boarding gates, and bag notifications. Touchless and low-touch technologies – to make the journey easier, quicker, and safer – stay firmly in the investment mix, combined with investments in passenger identity management driven by biometrics. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of airports now invest in biometric identity management solutions for passengers to drive safety and efficiency in the era of Covid-19.
Airlines have moved sustainability high up the IT agenda, with more than half (56 per cent) implementing new technology to improve sustainability and a third (32 per cent) planning to do so by 2024. Many are exploring how IT can support their sustainability goals and ambitions as they respond to pressure to reduce carbon emissions in scopes 1 and 2 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol, which focus on direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy.