2025 marks the year APAC aviation moves from vision to reality in digital transformation. AI is no longer experimental but embedded in core operations, from predictive maintenance to personalised passenger services. Digital credentials and biometrics stream border control and passenger flow, with 63% of airports prioritising these capabilities and 75% of airlines planning biometric processes by 2027. Investment is scaling rapidly, with airports spending over USD 9 billion on IT this year and airlines spending more than USD 37 billion on connected, agile systems that boost efficiency and resilience.
The region’s scale and diversity make it a hotbed for innovation, with APAC projected to account for more than half of global passenger growth by 2043. This context set the stage for the APAC Aviation Tech Summit, where industry leaders across airlines, airports, and governments came together to exchange ideas and showcase progress. The following themes reflect the pivotal insights and breakthroughs shaping aviation’s next chapter.
From Insight to Impact: AI and Predictive Operations
SITA occupies a unique position in this transformation: a presence in 95% of international destinations, 75+ years of aviation innovation, and operations in more than 200 countries and territories. Serving nearly every airline, 1,000+ airports, and over 70 governments while connecting 19,600+ aircraft, SITA combines unmatched reach with deep operational expertise.
Across the Asia Pacific, AI is already delivering tangible results. Airports are optimising resource allocation using historical data, predictions, and business rules, enabling operators to adjust priorities on the fly. This reduces delays, boosts capacity, improves efficiency, and balances operational performance with a lower carbon footprint.
Sumesh Patel, President, Asia Pacific, SITA
Predictive analytics also futureproofs airports by enabling real-time crowd forecasting, resource optimisation, digital twin planning, and personalised passenger experiences. Its role will expand in the next three to five years with deeper AI integration, more intelligent and connected ecosystems, sustainability-focused monitoring, and ethically guided predictive security systems. As operations become more thoughtful, the spotlight turns to how digital identity can transform the passenger journey.
Identity in Motion: Redesigning Passenger Facilitation
Biometric identity systems are already helping airports and airlines to speed up processing while keeping security tight. Cloud-based approaches give operators greater flexibility, enabling off-airport check-in and more intelligent resource allocation to smooth bottlenecks.
That said, expanding these successes to a broader scale remains a challenge. Privacy laws, security risks, and commercial sensitivities around passenger data can limit sharing. The path forward lies in agreed standards, trusted frameworks, and privacy-preserving technologies such as AI-enabled anonymisation. These measures allow secure collaboration without exposing personal identities, unlocking a seamless end-to-end journey’s full potential. Passenger confidence, however, also depends on how well the industry tackles another enduring pain point: baggage.
Reinventing Baggage: Trust Through Technology
In 2024, 5.3 billion people travelled by air, an 8.2% increase, yet mishandling rates fell 8.7%, showing tangible progress. The industry is embracing innovation, such as Apple’s Find My integration with SITA’s WorldTracer, which boosts passenger satisfaction and operational efficiency at minimal cost in a highly regulated environment.
Digital travel credentials allow travellers to unlock every step with one secure identity, whether at the boarding gate, a hotel lobby, or an event venue.
Looking ahead, technologies like computer vision for bag identification, electronic bag tags, and crowdsourced trackers will play important but targeted roles. The most significant gains will come from integrating these diverse data sources into a unified view of baggage flows, a goal supported by IATA’s new baggage messaging standard, which is now in proof-of-concept trials. The same spirit of integration is also beginning to reshape journeys across modes of transport.
Connected Journeys: Breaking Modal Silos
Across APAC, intermodal travel is moving from concept to reality, with airports and transport operators taking critical first steps. Early progress is evident in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Seoul, where airport–rail links are well established. Seoul takes this further with single-ticket itineraries that connect air and rail into a single journey. Similar momentum is emerging between the maritime and aviation sectors, primarily through new approaches to baggage integration.
The main barriers are organisational rather than technical. While systems can be connected, limited cooperation between air, rail, and sea operators often leaves integration to the passenger. Breaking down data silos, defining shared responsibilities, and fostering proactive collaboration are essential steps toward a true door-to-door journey. These threads highlight a bigger truth: technology must shift from the periphery to the strategic core of aviation.
A New Mindset for a New Era
The future of APAC aviation demands a shift in mindset: technology can no longer be seen as a support function. It must be the strategic engine driving seamless, passenger-centric travel. AI, digital credentials, and smart infrastructure belong at the core of operations, enabling agility, deep collaboration, and a relentless focus on customer experience.
The industry will be shaped by those who act decisively now, bringing people, processes, and places together in a continuous, responsive journey. The building blocks are already here; it is time to stitch them together.
By Sumesh Patel, President, Asia Pacific, SITA
