The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the results of its 2021 Global Passenger Survey (GPS) which showed that passengers want to use biometric identification if it expedites travel processes.
In a release issued in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, the survey also indicated that passengers want to spend less time queuing.
The report showed that 73 per cent of passengers are willing to share their biometric data to improve airport processes (up from 46 per cent in 2019).
It also stated that 88 per cent will share immigration information prior to departure for expedited processing.
The GPS also showed that over a third of passengers (36 per cent) have experienced the use of biometric data when traveling.
Of these, 86 per cent were satisfied with the experience.
IATA said data protection remains a key issue with 56 per cent indicating concern about data breaches.
It further sad passengers want clarity on who their data is being shared with (52 per cent) and how it is used/processed (51 per cent).
The report further said 55 per cent of passengers identified queuing at boarding as a top area for improvement while 41 per cent of passengers identified queuing at security screening as a top priority for improvement.
Besides, it indicated that 38 per cent of passengers identified queuing time at border control / immigration as a top area for improvement.
“Passengers have spoken and want technology to work harder, so they spend less time ‘being processed’ or standing in queues. And they are willing to use biometric data if it delivers this result.
“Before traffic ramps-up, we have a window of opportunity to ensure a smooth return to travel post pandemic and deliver long-term efficiency improvements for passengers, airlines, airports and governments,” said IATA’s senior vice president for operations, safety and security, Nick Careen
With additional document checks for COVID-19, processing time at airports is taking longer.
Pre-COVID-19, the average passengers spent 1.5 hours in travel processes (check-in, security, border control, customs, and baggage claim).
Current data indicates that airport processing times have ballooned to 3 hours during peak time with travel volumes at only about 30 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels.
The greatest increases are at check-in and border control (emigration and immigration) where travel health credentials are being checked mainly as paper documents.
This exceeds the time that passengers want to spend on processes at the airport. The survey found that:
The global airlines’ organisation announced that it was working with industry stakeholders and has two mature programmes which can support a successful ramping-up of aviation post-pandemic and provide travelers with the expedited experience they are demanding.
It said its Travel Pass is a solution to manage the complex myriad of travel health credentials that governments require.
According to IATA, the The app offers a safe and secure way for travelers to check the requirements for their journey, receive test results and scan their vaccine certificates, verify that these meet the destination and transit requirements and share these effortlessly with health officials and airlines prior to departure and using e-gates.
“We cannot just revert to how things were in 2019 and expect our customers to be satisfied. Pre-pandemic we were preparing to take self-service to the next level with One ID. The crisis makes its twin-promises of efficiency and cost-savings even more urgent. And we absolutely need technologies like IATA Travel Pass to re-enable self-service or the recovery will be overwhelmed by paper document checks. The GPS results are yet another proof point that change is needed,” said Careen.
