Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com | 13 FUTURE OF TRAVEL Technology will be the new travel essential to reduce touchpoints, ensure compliance and verify identity. E merging technology solutions such as digital travel identity and touchless travel experiences are some crucial prerequisites being discussed in order for travel to restart safely. Get ready to be less anonymous as technology is increasingly used to gather personal information and verify traveller identities throughout their journey. Technology will also play a greater role in air travel, by reducing physical touchpoints and ensuring compliance with stricter health regulations. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is currently leading global efforts to create a digital identity platform. Launched in January 2018, the Known Traveller Digital Identity (KTDI) has been proposed to be used in a cross-border context. Technologies being studied for this platform include blockchain, biometrics, mobile devices and cryptography. At the moment, the platform is being trialled by a consortium of public and private sector players formed in mid-2019. Parties include government agencies of Canada and the Netherlands, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air Canada, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, Aéroports de Montréal, Accenture Plc., which helped build the pilot project, Vision-Box and Idemia. While still far from being finalised, KTDI could become an important part of travel as the pilot trials will inform best practices and standards in collaboration with international regulatory bodies and the industry. By Naomi Neoh The touchless future of travel Powering air travel The overhaul in air travel could involve passenger processes moving exclusively to mobile phones, new health screening at borders, digitally- connected aircrafts and increased data privacy measures, according to SITA, which provides communications and IT to the aviation industry. SITA monitors about 60% of the exchange of information within the aviation industry, including airlines, airports and government bodies. One of the key concerns is to reduce or eliminate the amount of physical contact that passengers have at various airport checkpoints. "Relationships with customers in Asia Pacific have become increasingly focused on the way in which journeys can become 'touchless'. Customers are looking for contactless, self-service technologies at every step of the journey to facilitate passenger flow, cut queues and ensure social distancing-friendly passenger experience," said Sumesh Patel, president Asia Pacific at SITA. To reduce physical contact across various checkpoints, airports such as Beijing Capital International Airport, Hamad International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport have already deployed biometric solutions where passengers use their face to verify their identity. Such systems eliminate the need to verify physical documents, touch shared devices or interact closely with staff. As the next step, airports are considering ways to enable passengers to check-in on their mobile devices even before arriving at the airport, which will completely remove the need to come into any contact with physical kiosks. In the future, remote "on the move" iris scanning may be used as an alternative to facial recognition, predicted Mr Patel. This means that passengers arriving at the airport who have not pre-registered via mobile can be enrolled in seconds using a biometric- enabled kiosk or self-bag drop unit and move through the airport checkpoints seamlessly to the aircraft – sans the need for physical contact. Digitally-enabled aircraft in the making Apart from passenger handling, airlines are moving towards newer aircraft with IT systems, which are expected to improve turnaround times and on-time performance, as well as plot fuel- efficient flight routes. According to SITA, there were 18,000 connected aircraft pre-crisis. It expects this number to ramp up in the coming months, as older aircraft are being retired and replaced with newer models. Newer aircraft are expected to deliver greater efficiency in the medium to long term and will be crucial as airlines continue to drive sustainability efforts. "Given the vulnerability of the industry as we see now with the pandemic, investment in technology enables scalable operations, which enables long-term cost efficiencies and flexibility," added Mr Patel. Remote iris scanning may be used as an alternative to facial recognition as airports and airlines overhaul their passenger processes. CREDIT: GETTYIMAGES T R A V E L T E C H N O L O G Y

• Cover