The unprecedented spread of coronavirus worldwide is demanding drastic action across the aviation sector. Because of this pandemic, aircraft groundings, border closures, and flight cancellations have resulted in lower load factors and fewer flights.
Airports are also incurring more operational expenses for extra sanitization and cleaning to allow frictionless travel. Even in unprecedented times, airports still have to operate and leverage the technology in the following ways:
1. Minimize Maintenance and Guarantee Performance
For airports to ensure system availability and stable operations, AIT (Advanced Imaging Technology) is developed with predictive diagnostic software programs to indicate when services are needed. The technology can tell operators when it should be serviced to reduce downtime and maintenance resources.
Without moving service requirements, moving parts and maintenance of AIT systems will be reduced. The solid-state design usually supports setup and calibration in the factory rather than in the field during installation.
2. Off-Site Passenger Handling
Developments in technology are enhancing a lot of opportunities for off-site passenger handling. Most travel stakeholders and airports use the cloud to enable baggage drop and pop-up check-in services.
For airports to cope with the rising passenger numbers, they need to use cloud-based technology to alleviate passenger processing congestion. People will witness off-airport services become a norm in the future, whereas check-in halls will be repurposed and minimized.
3. Improved Security
If you travel a lot, you are probably aware of most airports’ ramped security and safety measures. With laptop bans on flights to the US and UK, tighter entry requirements are carried out across New Zealand and Australia. While tighter security measures offer comfort in a time of ever-increasing global security risks, time-consuming processes and outdated systems are the banes of all business trips.
Some airline safety experts, like Omar Kaddouha, indicate that facial recognition is becoming more popular in airports, providing an efficient, streamlined, and paperless boarding experience. The technology was recently used to check-in and exit checks, and with a match rate of 100%, airports use the advancements for boarding procedures.
4. Control of the Digital Identity
The use of persistent travel tokens and digital self-sovereign identity can put passengers back in control over-identify the aspects they can reveal when traveling. The risks can be consistently assessed by a specialist AI (artificial intelligence) in the future airline.
Sensitive elements of these details can be used by governments that use automated collaborative systems to approve a few steps of the journey. Airports no longer hold the responsibility to process passenger data for border security reasons.
5. Faster Processing
As the annual passenger numbers continue to hike at travel hub airports globally, the pressure of logistical capabilities unavoidably increases.
From reclaiming baggage, dropping, sorting, storing, and conveying to processing passengers and ensuring all the needs are met, airports use logistical solutions to improve automation and sophisticated engineering.
In a Nutshell!
The question unintentionally lurks in nearly every passenger that traverses through airports daily. While there are security and safety arrangements in the airport, casualties usually happen every day.
However, technologies will continue to enhance the landscape for safer airports. As other aspects of airports like value-added customer service and luggage mobilization continue to advance, the security and safety standards will also improve.
