Aviation operators are investing greater amounts in technology to offset the slow post-pandemic recovery of human resources, which is lagging growing travel demand, according to SITA, an aviation IT provider.
Sumesh Patel, president for Asia-Pacific at SITA, said global air traffic has recovered to 90% of 2019 levels at a quicker pace than predicted by analysts.
However, even though airlines and airports began recruiting staff in advance, they were still unable to cover operations during the recovery period.
This situation prompted operators to utilise technology that can replace manpower, such as baggage management, biometric passenger processing, and airport management systems.
According to SITA's survey of 20% of airlines and 93 airports globally, 96% of airlines and 93% of airports expect their IT spending to stay the same or increase this year, compared with 2022.
Self-service technology and biometrics continue to be priorities for passenger processing, while operational technology includes cloud services and business intelligence.
IT spending for airlines rose to US$37 billion, which was 4.73% of their revenue in 2022, up from 4.6% in 2021. Revenue for airlines grew following the pandemic.
Airports also reported higher IT investment as a percentage of revenue, making up 5.6% in 2022 compared with 4.77% in 2019, though the estimated value fell from $8.8 billion in 2019 to $6.8 billion in 2022.
Mr Patel said passengers, particularly Gen Z, are more willing to use digital solutions, such as obtaining digital boarding passes and baggage tags before arriving the airport.
In Thailand, the company is helping Suvarnabhumi airport implement a biometrics solution that allows passengers to walk through checkpoints using their faces as boarding passes.
He said the airport started a trial with Thai Airways for flights to Singapore and plans to try this scheme with other airlines this year.
Passengers on these flights check in at a kiosk, where the system validates their passport and creates a soft token based on their biometrics. This token enables bag drops and the ability to walk through gates.
Mr Patel said a good example of biometrics can be seen in Singapore, as passengers there can exit the country without passing officers.
The system records biometric information digitally during inbound immigration.
If a crisis similar to Covid-19 occurs again, he said these technologies will help reduce the need for extra documentation as a platform can synchronise health certificates from different countries.
SITA is also working with the Airports of Thailand on adopting the Advance Passenger Processing system, which helps the government verify passenger credentials before boarding.