SITA reviews key considerations for airport biometric deployments

The air transport industry is on an unstoppable journey towards biometric self-service to facilitate seamless travel experiences, according to a blog post on SITA’s 2018 Air Transport IT Insights.

SITA Lab Senior Manager of Projects & Innovation Sherryl Stein reviews some key findings from the previously published SITA Insights research, which shows increasing biometric investment and piloting, and also points out a few important considerations for industry stakeholders deploying biometrics.

There must be a clear message and customer value proposition, Stein writes, and the needs of all stakeholders must be met to ensure program acceptance. She recommends clearly addressing how a given solution meets the needs for each group of stakeholders, and revisiting it regularly to accommodate changing needs and new information. Stein also urges stakeholders to make sure they have the right business tools and core competency, and notes the importance of collaboration in doing so.

All systems and processes should incorporate at least three core principles, according to the post; traceability, opt out opportunities, which Stein says are just as important as the chance to opt in, and privacy by design, with appropriate limitations, protections, and best practices and controls in place.

The research indicates that 42 percent of airlines currently have an innovation collaboration strategy in place, and 27 percent more are developing one. For airports, contracted parties remain the most common partnership form for innovation collaboration, at 30 percent.

Another recent blog from SITA explored the EU’s new border control systems, placing them in the context of existing systems.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometrics  |  border management  |  passenger processing  |  SITA  |  travel and tourism