Airport Experience® News - Conference Issue 2024

DATA CHECK

With Passenger Numbers On The Rise, Airports Are Investing In Their IT Futures

BY CAROL WARD

IT&T Spend Predictions For 2024

Investment Priorities For IT Services

94%

93%

100%

95%

CYBERSECURITY

PASSENGER PROCESSING

AIRPORT SECURITY

COMMERCIAL SERVICES E.G RETAIL, FOOD AND BEVERAGE, PARKING

INCLUDING SELF-SERVICE, BIOMETRICS, MOBILE APPS, DIGITAL SERVICES, TOUCHLESS

85%

92%

90%

2023 - Planned

2022

2023 - Planned

CLOUD SERVICES INFASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE, SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE, DESKTOP AS A SERVICE

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

COMMON USE INFRASTRUCTURE

1.

SOLUTIONS IT SERVICE

2.

MANAGEMENT ENHANCEMENT

augmented reality, and autonomous vehicles - suggest an ongoing commitment to digitalization for enhancing the passenger experience and boosting operational efficiency,” the SITA report said. “Passenger processing continues to be at the top of IT service investment agendas, with almost all airports engaging in major programs or research and development. The border control stage leads the way for adoption of biometric ID management, but over half of airports expect to implement this across other journey stages by 2026.” Airport Priorities Cybersecurity and passenger processing lead the way for airports’ IT service investment priorities, with 100% and 95% respectively having a major program or R&D in place in 2023. For cybersecurity, this is up from 77% in 2022, demonstrating its ever-increasing importance in the aviation sector, the report said. Similarly, passenger processing initiatives increased

“notable surge” in airport information technology spending is expected, given that operating

A

expenditures and capital expenditures are reaching similar levels, meaning that the industry is ready to invest in growth and development rather than just for sustaining operations, according to a new report from SITA. In its 2023 Air Transport IT Insights, released in February 2024, SITA said IT spending was projected to rise to 7.45% of global airport revenue in 2023, up from 7.17% in 2022. More than two-thirds of airports surveyed projected sustained growth in spending for 2023 and 2024. In 2023, airports strategically prioritized investments in data repositories, business intelligence software, biometric identity management, and 5G communications, driven by the increased use of mobile self service by passengers. “The newest and most advanced technology implementations - such as biometrics, touchless, single-token,

8

AX NEWS MARCH 2024