Biometric boarding will unlock seamless travel. Credit: SITA/NEC Corp.
SINGAPORE — Adopt the brace position, the airport experience — from arrival to departure — is about to enter a new era.
Look but don’t touch will be the new mantra for travellers
as airports scramble to adopt frictionless systems to restore
confidence among passengers whose journeys have been interrupted by the
Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic represents a new 9/11 moment for air travel
and how we respond will define our industry for decades to come,” says
Barbara Dalibard CEO of travel technology provider, SITA.
Touchless bag-tagging and digital boarding pass stamps at
security are just some of the examples of minimising the need for
passengers to touch airport infrastructure or physically contact staff.
“We need a focus shift from immediate actions like masks
and hand sanitizers to longer-term and more sustainable solutions,” Ms
Dalibard adds.
A global partnership between SITA and Japan’s NEC
Corporation will further unlock the potential of seamless
next-generation passenger processing solutions, enabling passengers to
use their biometric identity to check-in, make payments, drop their bag,
as well as pass through security, immigration and boarding by simply
scanning their face at each step.
SITA says travel authorisation, bag-drop and check-in can
be facilitated away from the airport to reduce passenger queuing and to
enable more social distancing. Passengers will arrive checked in and
‘ready to fly.”
Biometrics are capable of enrolling and then recognising
faces with masks on and passengers will be able to use their mobile as
‘a remote control for travel’.
Changi is among airports worldwide that have been working on a series of measures in preparation for when air travel resumes.
At the airport’s automated kiosks, proximity sensors are
being installed progressively to eliminate the need for travellers to
touch the electronic screens when they check in or drop off their bags.
Infrared sensors will enable passengers to select options
and key in their travel details by pointing their finger close to the
screen without touching it, while upgraded automated immigration lanes
have been fitted with a biometric system that uses face and iris
recognition technology as the primary means for identity verification.
The system replaces fingerprint scanning.
Tan Lye Teck, Changi Airport Group’s executive vice
president for airport management said, “We will rapidly bring on board
new measures as we go into a new normal for air travel.”
And as Frank Trampert, managing director & chief
commercial officer, EMEA & APAC for Sabre Hospitality Solutions,
noted this week, when travel resumes, “the new currency for loyalty will
be trust”.
This article first appeared on Travel Weekly Asia