The shift to digital travel of the future. For years the travel industry has sought digital transformation to make travel easier and to gain efficiencies. A quick checklist of qualitative considerations.
There are many qualitative considerations in creating a biometric and mobile-driven digital journey:
Security and the passenger experience will be prime concerns. No. 1 ranking for biometrics. The SITA-NEC global partnership focuses on secure and seamless travel on and off airports, founded on next-generation biometric, mobile-enabled, and touchless passenger processing technology.
NEC’s platform is the world’s best biometric matching service, ranked No. 1 several times as the world’s most accurate face recognition technology in vendor tests conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). SITA’s sleek self-service passenger processing units include bag drops, face pods and eGates, and SITA Smart Path TS6 Kiosks, with use cases ranging from checking-in and enrolling for a biometric single token to bag-tag printing and self-bag drop. As international travel grows again, the SITA-NEC partnership opens up a new world of digital travel possibilities, offering greater convenience and speed in processing passengers.
And don’t forget the experience and reach.
Experience in deploying tried and tested systems in different airport environments is different. Using NEC’s fast, accurate biometric automation, SITA Smart Path (for whole-journey identity management) validates a passenger’s identity and credentials for paperless check-in, bag drop, security, immigration and boarding. SITA provides business-critical systems supported by 1,700 service professionals worldwide, with a deep understanding of the local environment with no need to fly from another region to resolve any issues that may arise urgently.
It’s advantageous when they can fit into existing airport technology environments so that airports can switch easily and cost-effectively to new levels of self-service.
Star Alliance’s airline passengers will also be able to complete touchless processes using their face biometrics for tickets, loyalty programs, and payment cards, thanks to SITA-NEC technology. According to SITA’s 2022 Passenger IT Insights research, passengers want to embrace mobile, biometric, and touchless technologies to make their journeys easier. In creating biometric, mobile-driven journeys – we must make the right choices.
Our decisions now must ultimately take us toward the vision of a single digital identity for travellers across all the world’s airports. Another SITA-NEC customer, Miami International Airport, is introducing biometric boarding at over 130 gates by 2023, complying with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) biometric Entry/Exit program.
SITA constantly evolves its technology for airlines, airports, governments, and other aviation players, which has been the case for more than 70 years.
Consider a provider with significant R&D programs in biometric and mobile technologies.
As people return to the skies and passenger numbers grow more than ever, we must focus on the need to prepare aviation for the next generation of travel. Connecting to SITA’s Smart Path solution, Star Alliance’s biometrics platform will be able to use SITA’s shared airport infrastructure in more than 460 airports to help streamline processing at checkpoints.
That means thinking about the evolution of digital travel. So, the speed and accuracy of biometric matches are key to assessing any potential biometric system. The digital travel experience will utilize a new generation of touchpoints. This bodes well for today’s return to the skies and the seamless digital travel experience of the future. Your biometric solution should make travel easier for passengers. Will the biometric solution evolve easily as we approach the vision of a single identity for travellers everywhere? For its part, driven by the pandemic, the industry has begun accelerating the task of making travel processes digital. Airports must easily migrate to emerging technologies, practices, and standards.
A traveller’s digital identity will become the master key to travelling from anywhere to everywhere. But ensure you invest in a system that allows you to scale up cost-effectively to take advantage of new technology and innovations as they emerge. At the same time, it’s in various stages of trials and adoption worldwide, including the airports of Athens, Brisbane, Doha (Hamad), Kuala Lumpur, Oman, Riyadh, Rome, and San Francisco, Shanghai, and Taiwan, with more in the pipeline. That includes easy ways to evaluate service availability, accessibility and success using data analytics and ‘where are my passenger?’ features.
In addition to real deployments, consider longevity. Some airports might want to trial biometrics for boarding before deploying it more widely, for example. SITA and NEC have partnered with airports and airlines worldwide to navigate the landscape. On top of that, Smart Path is being deployed in other travel sectors, such as rail and cruise, and for global sporting events. Decision-makers need reassurances of vision, credibility, quality, experience and reach.
They tend to be more innovative because they are committed to continually evolving and improving solutions, adopting international best practices and standards for interoperability and efficiency. Ensure you’re understood and supported locally and globally. SITA Smart Path has been deployed in full production environments at major airports, including Beijing, Boston and Orlando. NEC’s pedigree spans 123 years, 70 of which have seen the company providing technology to governments.
Take advantage of existing infrastructure. The importance of deployments.
Around 800 Smart Path touchpoints are in production, with over 3,000 committed in airports globally. Ease of use is important. Look for a transaction time of under 1 second for optimal passenger flow.
Invest for scalability. Integrate with your already existing, avoiding additional passenger hardware and background technologies. Engage a provider who understands this and offers a flexible, tailored approach to your airport’s specific needs. Some providers refer to deployments that are proofs-of-concept or limited trials, perhaps for one airline or terminal. CIOs, CTOs, and commercial procurement professionals must make the right choices.
With standards and practices changing, it’s critical to understand the way forward.
Written by: Jill Walsh
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