Passenger Terminal World - Passenger Terminal World Annual Showcase 2025
Thales outlines how biometric solutions and digital IDs are transforming the passenger experience and why airlines should be driving this travel revolution
2024-10-17 08:32:52
PAVE THE WAY
Air travel is booming. Global passenger numbers are expected to hit a record 9.5 billion by the end of 2024, according to ACI, and double in total between 2019 and 2040. That’s good news for airlines. However, surging demand also brings new challenges. Many airport terminals, for example, are struggling to manage the relentless pressure on touchpoints such as security checks and immigration control.
Long queues and lengthy delays are compromising the passenger experience. In response, there is a growing recognition that self-service solutions can ease these bottlenecks by enabling passengers to use their face, fingerprint or iris as a means of swift and contactless identification. Reflecting this, standalone biometrics-based systems such as e-gates are becoming commonplace in terminals.
However, given the sustained uptick in passenger numbers, stakeholders are now looking toward fully integrated end-to-end biometrics solutions to deliver a great change in performance.
Such solutions use a range of proven technologies to provide travelers with a biometrics-based pathway that embraces every touchpoint, from check-in through to final boarding.
Realizing the One ID vision
In 2018, the International Air Travel Association (IATA) launched the One ID concept. In its own Airports can slash passenger processing time by 30% through the use of self-service and automation words, IATA aimed to “achieve more seamless and contactless passenger journeys while protecting privacy”. Two core principles underpinned this vision. The first was for passengers to obtain digital authorization to travel (such as a digital visa) directly from the destination country in advance of their journey. The second was for passengers to use their biometrics and journey information to negotiate airport touchpoints without repeatedly showing their physical documents.
Passengers are certainly ready for this new approach. According to IATA’s latest Global Passenger Survey, 75% of travelers want to use their biometric data rather than physical travel documents. Indeed, 46% of those surveyed had used biometrics at an airport over the previous 12 months. Mobile and app-based solutions are also increasingly popular. In 2022, 33% of passengers used airline apps, and Juniper Research predicts that 75% of boarding cards will be issued on a cell phone by 2027.
"75% of travelers want to use their biometric data rather than physical travel documents"
A warmer welcome for passengers
End-to-end biometric solutions, such as Fly to Gate, completely reimagine the airport experience. Having enrolled and checked in at home via a smartphone, travelers can head straight for bag drop when they reach the airport. Here, a facial recognition pod confirms the passenger’s identity, enabling them to drop off baggage without any need for physical documents to be shown and checked. It’s the same story at all subsequent touchpoints – security and boarding gates are negotiated effortlessly with the help of biometric recognition. The experience can even extend to lounges and VIP areas. As well as smartphone-based enrollment, Fly to Gate offers the option of self-service kiosks within the airport terminal.
Airlines to reap the benefits of a new airport journey
Numerous stakeholders must collaborate to make end-to-end, biometrics-based airport journeys a reality. However, there are compelling reasons why airlines should lead the way. To start with, they have a direct financial interest in ensuring every customer’s travel experience is positive. Additionally, airlines are very much in the firing line when it comes to passenger complaints about excessive queues and delays at airports. Fly to Gate is designed specifically to address the causes of such frustration, and airlines can expect to gain recognition if they are seen as a driving force behind the improvement.
The challenges for airlines
To embrace Fly to Gate, airlines must introduce several new processes. These include offering passengers the opportunity to capture their biometrics and verify their identity and travel documents using a smartphone before they set off for the airport. Airlines must also enable the creation or the use of a digital travel credential (DTC), and secure the consent of individual passengers to use this DTC to generate a unique digital token that will be shared with other stakeholders such as airport operators and border control authorities. This token effectively unlocks the Fly to Gate experience, and the sensitive private data embedded within it needs to be fully protected against cyberattacks. Furthermore, airlines must ensure compliance with relevant data protection rules, a task that will potentially extend across many regulatory frameworks in different countries and regions.
Bringing it all together
It’s a complex task. However, Thales, the company behind Fly to Gate, already offers all the technologies, competencies and robust cybersecurity measures required to deploy biometrics-based airport journeys. Notably, these include smartphone-based enrollment solutions that incorporate sophisticated liveness detection systems to ensure that ‘selfies’ taken by passengers are genuine. Thales is also an industry leader in document verification systems that ensure the authenticity of passports and other ID documents, and offers a digital wallet that provides a secure vault on the passenger’s smartphone for travel documents. Furthermore, the company’s portfolio incorporates platforms for managing and generating ID credentials, handling multiple biometric modalities (face, fingerprint and iris), managing passenger consent, ensuring compliance with GDPR and similar regulations, and meeting the current and future requirements of One ID.
The shape of things to come
Advanced technologies such as Fly to Gate are the shape of things to come. Pioneering airports worldwide are already rolling out end-to-end biometrics-based journeys for their passengers. In the years ahead, more will follow. The question is, will airlines take the lead in creating the biometrics-based passenger?
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