Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2024

DATA CHECK

“Already, three in four passengers are comfortable storing their passport on their phone and sharing digital identity and biometrics in advance of travel,” he wrote. “However, the adoption of biometrics faces challenges due to privacy concerns, highlighting the need for education and reassurance about the safety and benefits of biometric technology.” Digital Travel Credentials Air travel has soared since 2023, surpassing industry expectations, with forecasts suggesting further growth in 2024. Looking ahead, air travel demand is expected to double to 8 billion passengers by 2040. Such growth will require airports to adapt and advance their digital capabilities to cope with increasing capacity and flow demands without any additional space. “Utilization of digital travel technology is not something that is just nice to have – it is an inevitable outcome of the demands placed on the current air travel industry infrastructure,” the SITA report said. By moving away from reliance on physical documents, airports and airlines can achieve faster passenger processing and improved passenger experiences, SITA said. In addition, digital travel can optimize use of resources and increase capacity and scalability and enable a more rapid response to changes in operational processes. Finally, digital adoption can create new revenue streams for travel players, the report found. Digital travel credentials allow passengers to share documentation with governments before traveling, which helps governments manage who enters and leaves the country. DTCs are digital representations of a person’s identity, such as a passport, stored in a mobile wallet. Passengers express varying levels of comfort in the technology, depending on the scenario. According to the SITA survey, about three-quarters of respondents were “very comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” with having a digital passport stored on their phone, and with providing the digital credential and biometrics in advance of travel. Those levels of comfort held above 70% when asked about providing the data to airlines, airports and border control. The SITA survey showed that most travelers would be open to having a private company issue to the DTC, rather than insisting on a government-run initiative. While only a quarter would trust a private company as much as the government, another 42% say they would still be open

Comfort With Digital Travel Credential (DTC) In Different Scenarios

Very comfortable

Somewhat comfortable Very uncomfortable

Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable

Somewhat uncomfortable

Don’t know

Having a digital passport on your phone (i.e. a Digital Travel Credential [DTC] stored in a secure digital wallet)

44%

31%

10% 7% 4%

1%

Providing your digital identity and biometrics in advance of travel to make the journey more ef cient (i.e. uploading a photo and your credentials to a digital wallet on a secure app before you travel, so they can be checked in advance)

39%

34%

11% 8% 4%

1%

Source: SITA 2024 Passenger IT Insights Report

Comfort Providing Digital Travel Credential (DTC) To Different Operators

Very comfortable

Somewhat comfortable Very uncomfortable

Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable

Somewhat uncomfortable

Don’t know

Border control

34%

37%

15%

8%

3% 3%

The airport

35%

39%

14%

7%

3% 3%

Your airline

38%

39%

12%

7%

3% 3%

Only one in 10 passengers report feeling uncomfortable with any of the travel operators, and only 5% of passengers are uncomfortable across all three operators.

Three in four (76%) say they would be comfortable with sharing their DTC with an airline, followed by an airport (74%) and border control (71%).

Source: SITA 2024 Passenger IT Insights Report

to such companies being the issuers. As a whole, just under three quarters of travelers (70%) would trust – or be open to trusting – a private entity to issue a DTC, with only one in five (21%) saying they would not trust a private company. Support towards private entities issuing a DTC is particularly pronounced among male passengers, younger passengers and those traveling for business purposes. Biometric Moves Alongside digital travel credentials, one of the key areas of technology which could help to resolve these issues would

be the wider use of biometrics across the travel experience, the report said, noting that issues like long wait times could be addressed through the technology. SITA’s research showed in the last year there has been a decrease in how comfortable passengers are with the use of biometrics as identification – likely due to rising public reservations around privacy – with the average score across various touchpoints decreasing from 7.4 to 6.7 (out of 10). The report noted the hesitancy around biometrics “is an an issue that the aviation sector will have to take note of, given the growing appetite for rolling out biometric initiatives among airports and airlines.”

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2024