Covid-19 crisis shifts focus of IT spend to automation, sustainability and digital health

Published on : 18 January 2022

CIOs betting on technology to support industry recovery, according to new findings from SITAs 2021 Air Transport IT Insights.

January 2022 – While IT budgets have stayed largely flat in 2021, airport and airline CIOs are betting on technology to support their recovery from Covid-19, with a significant increase in spending on digitalisation and sustainability as key priorities by 2024. This is according to new findings from SITA’s 2021 Air Transport IT Insights, published recently, which represents the views of more than 180 IT airport and airline decision makers across 45 countries.

The majority of airlines (84%) and airports (81%) expect to spend the same or more in 2022 compared to 2021, with spending on automation of passenger processing seeing a significant rise. This compares to 56% of airlines and 67% of airports that planned investment in automated passenger service in 2021. Creating a more streamlined and digitally enabled journey to boost passenger confidence and enhance convenience is a priority for airlines and airports.

This year’s IT Insights identifies passenger health certificate verification as an area for urgent attention as airlines and airports invest in digitising the process. During 2021, staff across 81% of airlines resorted to performing manual verifications of health certificates in paper or scanned format. However, airlines want to automate the process over the next three years, with the majority investing in verification via a mobile app (51%) and nearly half investing in kiosk-enabled health checks (45%).

Digital passenger health certification is also an urgent requirement for airports with a need to standardise approaches to verification. To accommodate growing passenger traffic and anticipated congestion, nearly half of major airports surveyed plan to implement mobile app-enabled verification. Almost a third have plans for verification through kiosks by 2024.

Airline investment is also increasing in areas such as self-service through mobile services, unassisted bag drop, boarding gates, and bag notifications. Touchless and low-touch technologies – to make the journey easier, quicker, and safer – stay firmly in the investment mix, combined with investments in passenger identity management driven by biometrics. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of airports now invest in biometric identity management solutions for passengers to drive safety and efficiency in the era of COVID-19.

David Lavorel, CEO, SITA AT AIRPORTS & BORDERS, said: “The industry faces pressure from all sides with an urgent need to reduce costs by optimising operational efficiency while also adhering to new operational hurdles connected to Covid-19. In addition, sustainability is a continued concern for the industry, with growing recognition that transformation needs to happen today to achieve the emission reduction goals of tomorrow. Smart technology, automation, and digitalisation are the only ways our industry can thread the needle between profitability, safety, and sustainability.”

Source - Industrial Automation Magazine