Vancouver International selects Amadeus, weighs biometrics applications throughout airport

Vancouver International Airport executives say they have deployed Amadeus’ cloud services, including biometrics, contactless interactions, and off-airport check-in and bag drop.

Airlines using the facility reportedly are exploring biometric check-in and boarding functions, according to executives. In the future, they say, biometric capabilities will be expanded to give passengers the option of identifying themselves through facial recognition.

According to airport officials, the pandemic has been an opportunity to modernize the facility’s infrastructure and rethink digital transformation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent hit to the aviation industry accelerated our desire for digital transformation,” says Lynette DuJohn, the airport’s vice president and CIO.

Amadeus is “connecting us with airlines more effectively,” DuJohn says.

The airport‘s connectivity has been upgraded using multiple high-speed network connections to a fully cloud-based service.

After the upgrade, Amadeus’s Flow, which manages passenger services, reportedly connects more than 650 check-in and gate desks used by 30 airline partners.

“The flexibility of airport solutions in the cloud allows for a phased approach where airlines and check-in desks can migrate to Amadeus in a gradual and low-risk manner, ensuring we’re ready to welcome increasing numbers of passengers,” she says.

She sees an opportunity for the new technology to cut the airport’s emissions, with 600 workstations being replaced with cloud-enabled thin clients using 89 percent less energy and failing every 30 years on average, compared to every four years with conventional workstations.

The announcement comes days after Amadeus partnered up with Air India.

The airlines in Canada could be looking to hook into the Amadeus system soon if travel news from south of its border is a durable trend.

Travel demand in the United States is relatively strong, according to figures from aviation industry analyst firm OAG, with nearly 30 percent more consumers traveling this summer than the same time last year.

The OAG report also suggests that 59 percent of respondents are willing to share their biometric data (via facial recognition, fingerprint, retina scanning or otherwise) to get through security lines faster, including 56 percent who are willing to use biometrics to streamline customs and immigration lines.

Article Topics

airport biometrics  |  Amadeus  |  biometrics  |  Canada  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  identity management  |  passenger processing