A new SITA report shows how tech-savvy travelers demand more automatic and uninterrupted trips.
Thus, airport and airline IT executives believe that the growing number of technology-skilled travelers will have a greater impact on their digital plans over the next six years. This is what a new report published by SITA, the leading IT provider in the air transport industry, reveals.
The report, 2025: Air travel for the digital era, shows that by that year, 68% of all passengers will be digital travelers and will expect to manage their trip in the same way they do in all other aspects of their lives: using Your mobile phones.
This demographic change has created digital travelers that demand more automation and practical control at every step of their trip. In particular, they hope to use their mobile phone to access services such as notifications, which is conceived as a unique and unified experience through airports, airlines, border controls and other modes of transport. This from the moment they leave home, until the moment they arrive at their destination.
Barbara Dalibard, CEO of SITA, said: “This demographic change brings with it the expectation of using technology everywhere, even during the trip. This will have a profound impact on the way passengers interact with airports and airlines to 2025. In fact, 83% of IT leaders, airports and airlines surveyed by SITA, believe that this demographic change will be the most important influence in their passenger solutions strategy by 2025. ”
Dalibard argues that this change requires more efficient collaboration and operations between airlines, airports and other responsible parties interested in providing that experience. Luggage is an excellent example; In a single trip, a suitcase can change hands a dozen times between the airline, the airport, the land logistics operator and customs agencies. If the correct data is not shared between the entities, it is difficult to keep track of that suitcase or provide the information that the passenger seeks about his whereabouts.
“Without this collaboration, we cannot offer what digital passengers want.”
Biometric technology is one of the key enablers to offer more automation, as well as to seamlessly link every step of the trip. This technology is already being used at airports for border control and aircraft boarding, and is expected to grow significantly, both in terms of geographic diffusion and functionality. According to new SITA research, more than half of the IT industry leaders believe that biometric travel tokens or tokens will be the key driver for future passenger experience.
To date, the approach has focused primarily on the use of biometric identity in a single trip or airport, but the industry is increasingly changing its approach to provide a persistent digital identity that can be used on multiple trips.
Dalibard added: “To really benefit from biometric technology, we as an industry need to work together to develop and agree on a digital identity that not only gives passengers control over their identity, but is also accepted at any airport and across borders. , just like passports are today. This cannot be done in isolation and requires a high degree of collaboration to make it a reality. ”
SITA works with industry organizations such as IATA, ICAO and ACI, and is a founding partner of the Sovrin Foundation, an international nonprofit private sector whose mission is to enable the autonomy of online identity.