Airport IT spending to hit $10 billion in 2018

Overall airport IT spending is expected to grow from $8.6 billion in 2017 to $10 billion in 2018, as airports invest in technology to reduce waiting in lines and manage rising passenger volumes, SITA says in a blog post.

The 2018 Air Transport IT Insights report, researched in partnership with Airports Council International (ACI), predicts that 58 percent of airports intend to provide wait time notifications to passengers’ mobile devices by 2021, up from only 17 percent today. Off-airport processing is also expected to be implemented by nearly half (46 percent) of airports by 2021.

Check-in kiosks are now present in 88 percent of airports, and will be in 95 percent within three years, the research shows, and 78 percent planning to implement unassisted bag drop. The research also indicates that the number of airports with wait-time monitoring in place has increased from 31 percent in 2017 to 42 percent in 2018. SITA previously announced that the same report shows 77 percent of airports are planning to have begun major biometric programs or research and development by 2021.

“Rising passenger numbers, while welcome, can put a real strain on airport resources,” says SITA Vice President for Latin America Elbson Quadros in a blog post on the occasion of the 2018 ACI-LAC Annual Assembly Conference and Exhibition. “Today, airports are investing in technology to help alleviate capacity constraints. In particular, they are implementing intelligent technologies to manage wait times as effectively as possible.”

By 2021, 95 percent of airports plan to invest in research and development or programs for cybersecurity and self-service processes, 86 percent will invest in business intelligence programs, and 85 percent will invest in mobile service applications and common-use infrastructure programs.
More than 350 airport leaders gathered in Miami for the annual ACI-LAC event.

SITA also reviewed some key considerations for biometric deployments in airports in a previous blog post discussing the results of the 2018 Air Transport IT Insights research.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometrics  |  IT  |  passenger processing  |  SITA  |  spending