Digital Travel Credentials will smooth the journey from boarding to Butterfly Farm
In the three decades he’s been with SITA, Sumesh Patel, who was appointed president, Asia Pacific, in 2017, has seen all that’s evolved in airline and airport technologies, and he remains as impassioned about the field as when he started as a field engineer all those years ago.
In fact, he’s even more excited now because today, he says, the shift is being driven by the consumer unlike in the past when the technology was driven more by operational efficiencies. The shift, which had been happening silently, accelerated during the pandemic when consumer adoption of tech shot to all-time highs, in all aspects of life and business.
“Everything we do now, we try and keep the end consumer in mind and ultimately bring efficiencies to airlines and airports,” says Patel. “For example, when we look at a technology now, we don’t look at just airlines and airports in isolation but it’s now multi-modal, to create a seamless experience across every touchpoint, and give consumers control over what they do on their mobile.”
Patel’s three decades with SITA, a 75-year entity founded in 1949 by 11 airlines who wanted an organization to help with their IT needs, have been full of change. “I suppose some people might wonder why stay with one organization for 30 years, but every two to three years, I was given a new role which had nothing to do with the previous role, so I was always learning.”
From his field engineer start, he’s worked across procurement, site facilities, sales and communications. “There was always career progression and I had the opportunity to learn a lot of new things.”
Today, SITA has grown to 410 members including airports who are all shareholders in the organization. “Our relevance is that we are the only company owned by the industry and our focus is to address their business challenges. That differentiates us from other travel technology companies. We are commercially-run and profitable and whatever we build addresses industry challenges. We also work with other industry bodies to build standards.”
Patel said the pandemic also accelerated the spirit of collaboration within the industry. “Airlines, airports and governments are cooperating better now than pre-Covid. Of course, during Covid, we were equally impacted as were airlines and airports, and we worked with various stakeholders to help the industry to recover and bring back passenger confidence with tech innovations.
“Our task was to retain the investment, help industry recover and use existing investment to get them Covid-ready. We had to go touchless and for biometrics, instead of building new kiosks, for example, we worked with the same counters and installed a camera and integrated it with existing technology.
“Every country had its own health pass scheme and that created a lot of anxiety among travellers with the different documentation. We built a platform to help all the different passes be inter-operable.
“I think one key lesson from the pandemic is the need for better collaboration. Airlines and airports were working in isolation, that could have been done better.”
But with that lesson learnt, and a more open-mindset towards collaboration, Patel is most excited about the use of biometrics to create a seamless journey for travellers.
“Now it can start with airline reservations, then airports – immigration and customs – to boarding. In Beijing airport, 600 biometric touchpoints have been enabled. We tested it on British Airways flights – and 400 passengers boarded in 20 minutes. Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines are coming onboard to use the system,” said Patel, “and in Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, we have completed the implementation of biometric check-in, baggage and boarding.”
Patel said five more AOT airports in Thailand and four airports in India would come online shortly. “Fifty percent of airports globally are focused on being biometric-enabled by 2025,” he said, adding, “SITA is active in 1,000 airports globally.”
He added, “The thing is, the technology has been there and different airports are at different stages of adoption – it is up to them to decide where they want to enable biometric touchpoints – it could be duty free, lounge access – but it is clear consumers want the convenience today.”
Its 2023 Passenger Insights study revealed five key findings:
- Disruptions have impacted over 50% of travelers, causing booking anxiety for nearly one third.
- Passengers are embracing tech for smoother journeys, with mobile devices serving multiple purposes—from booking to onboard engagement.
- The growing adoption of biometric identification underscores the demand for smoother airport experiences.
- Sustainability takes center stage. Passengers recognize smart technologies as key to streamlining travel while reducing its environmental impacts.
- Intermodal travel grows, with passengers embracing tech-driven efficiency. Imagine drop-and-go baggage or swift responses to disruptions—tech reshapes the journey.
Patel is also excited about the prospect of DTC (Digital Travel Credentials) where passengers can choose to share their biometrics with their next point of journey, for example, to board a cruise.
In April this year, SITA undertook a pilot project with Indicio and the government of Aruba which allowed participating travelers to download an app to house their passport data in digital form, enabling them to be cleared to enter Aruba before leaving their departure city and eliminating the need to show a passport upon arrival in the country.
The test was relatively small, taking place over two weeks with 24 travellers arriving from the United States and Canada. But SITA senior vice president for border management Jeremy Springall said it was enough to validate the benefits of a digital travel credential for travellers and for the destination.
Ultimately, the intention is for the DTC to serve as the traveller’s identification for everything in their trip, from car rental pick-up to hotel check-in to entry at attractions. For the Aruba pilot, the credential also served as identification for travellers visiting an attraction – the Butterfly Farm – to test its use for venue access and to demonstrate the fact that the traveler controls what data is shared when and with whom.
“How fast DTC adoption is will depend on the countries. For Singapore, it could be much faster,” said Patel.
In September, the Singapore government announced that starting in 2024, Changi Airport will introduce automated immigration clearance, which will allow passengers to depart without passports, using only biometric data. Biometrics will be used to create a “single token of authentication” that will be employed at various automated touch points – from bag drops to immigration clearance and boarding – eliminating the need for physical travel documents like boarding passes and passports.”
Said Patel, “You have to have trust in the system and I see it happening first on a bilateral basis where you have trust on both sides.”
Beyond biometrics, SITA is working on innovations around operational management to address manpower challenges faced by the industry as well as sustainability. “Sustainability is critical – how can we use tech to bridge the gap to SAF affordability and availability.
“Our new solution, OptiClimb, is being used by 26 airlines, including Singapore Airlines, which helps pilots when taking off to decide what speed to use to save fuel and carbon emissions. Of course, this is not enough – the industry has an ambitious target to get to net zero by 2050 and it is expected that SAF will solve 80% of the problem, with the remaining 20% to be solved by other innovations.
“Yes, there is growing noise about the environment and so we must do what we can to reduce carbon emissions and reduce carbon footprint. Passengers still want to travel, and travel can be made more sustainable.
“The good news is, airlines are more open to adoption of tech and our latest research shows that 96% of airlines and 93% of airports will have higher or similar investments in IT.”
