The International Air Transport Association’s plan to upgrade air travel infrastructure to make the sector more efficient for the hundreds of airlines that make up its membership rests heavily on digital identity and digital travel credentials. A new implementation of IATA’s One ID shows where the program is at today, just as an official from the organization explains its vision for the more connected future of travel in a podcast appearance.
IATA expects air travel to double again over the next 10 to 15 years, IATA Digital Identity Lead Gabriel Marquie told host Mathieu Glaude, host of the SSI Orbit podcast. That puts a clock on efficiency improvements that will make room for the extra passengers.
Improving passenger experiences with IATA’s One ID is an incremental process, and Marquie and Glaude discussed the benefits of extending the system to interactions like duty-free purchases, where biometrics could support data minimization, and hospitality reservations, where the credential generated for travel could be reused.
The industry body has also developed the NDC (New Distribution Capability) technical standard for integrated commercial systems, which replaces the GDS (Global Distribution Services). GDS was formulated to allow travel agencies to book flights, but the more sophisticated ecosystem IATA is standing up requires the system to recognize digital identity.
The NDC issues a digital identity to the travel agency in the form of a verifiable credential, and Marquie says the same system can also be extended to other commercial partners.
The latest One ID implementation is in Macau, where biometric gates have been deployed at Macau International Airport for faster passenger processing.
Travellers can enroll in MIA One ID at check-on counters, self check-in kiosks or security egates. The system cost 43 million Macanese pataca (roughly US$5.4 million) to set up, according to an announcement from the airport.
A tourist from the mainland described a fast and smooth process for confirming his identity with facial recognition and submitting fingerprint biometrics in a video posted to Facebook by TDM Canal Macau…
Image: Macau International Airport
