SITA’s Biometrics White Paper, Face the Future, acknowledged that the global demand for travel is rising, and biometrics is at the forefront of this transformation.
The white paper also discussed how the surge in air traveller numbers places extraordinary pressure on existing and new airports, national borders, and airline resources.
According to the CAPA-Centre for Aviation, 425 major construction projects (worth around US$450 billion) have already been put underway at existing global airports, along with 225 new airport investment projects in 2022.
However, SITA stated that “existing paper-based and manual travel infrastructure and legacy processes simply won’t be able to cope”, and that brick and mortar infrastructure is only part of the solution. Airlines and airports will struggle to manage passenger numbers, affecting the quality of the travel experience they are able to deliver.
The solution, explained SITA, is in harnessing the power of facial and fingerprint biometrics to create a safer and seamless air transport experience. By applying advanced technological solutions, SITA will also solve other industry challenges, like space constraints, specialist staff shortages, and evolving passenger wants and needs.
The white paper outlined more solutions using advanced biometrics technology, including SITA Flex, a common-use passenger processing platform, and SITA Border Management, which covers border control, risk intelligence, and travel authorisation. Both solutions are well recognised in the industry and used by more than 40 airports globally.
It also breaks down SITA’s Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) solution, a verifiable digital identity shared before arrival (with the passenger’s consent) for seamless border crossing.
Additionally, Face the Future also showcased successful case studies like the Star Alliance Biometric initiative and the Indian government’s DigiYatra programme – both cases use the end-to-end biometric passenger processing solution, SITA Smart Path.
“SITA Smart Path biometrically enables every step of the passenger journey, from mobile enrolment to aircraft boarding and every point in between and beyond,” shared Stefan Schaffner, vice president of airports at SITA.
“With facial recognition across as many airport touch points as you need, it lets passengers manage their identity across their whole journey, in a unique and touchless way. The final result is a radically improved travel experience.”
