Airline passengers may soon be able to complete check-in and catch a flight without showing a passport or boarding pass.
Passport details would be stored on passengers’ phones and airports would be alerted to their arrival when their face is scanned on entry, according to The Times.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICOA), the UN body that oversees policy, is planning a “digital travel credential” that could offer a digital alternative to physical passports.
Travel technology company Amadeus told The Times that the changes are the “biggest in 50 years”.
A spokesperson for Amadeus told The i Paper that this type of technology was already available for travel to the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. The Times report suggests such technolgy rolled out more widely within the next three years.
Curacao airport is testing out new technology (Photo: M.Torres/Travel-Images.com/Getty)Meanwhile, British Airways, Air France-KLM, Finnair and Saudia Airlines are reviewing Amadeus’s “journey pass” for their passengers. Amadeus describes the pass as being like an Amazon shopping basket.
Passengers could download the pass to a wallet on their phone. The pass would include booking details for their flight and for extras they bought when booking (such as car hire). They could also buy other add-ons to the wallet while at the airport, such as lounge passes.
Under these plans, there would be no check-in, but airlines would receive an alert when passengers arrive at the airport and would be updated when any changes are made to their booking.
Replying to questions from The i Paper, an Amadeus spokesperson said: “The combination of digital identity (passports) with biometrics at the border is a more recent development, but this vision has already arrived with the Curacao Express Pass, the world’s first pre-flight biometric digital identity verification for a contactless border crossing. “
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This pass was launched in July 2024. It enables passengers to verify and share their electronic passport and biometric information with the immigration system before arrival, using the pass on their smartphones.
Pre-enrolment occurs in a “digital identity app” that provides e-passport verification and biometric facial recognition and shares information about the passenger’s whereabouts for a limited period – and with their consent.
Pass users go through an expedited immigration lane on arrival.
“The Amadeus eGates then perform facial matching from the app enrolment, allowing travellers to walk through immigration upon the police’s backend clearance,” explained the spokesperson.
Digital passports are already in the works for UK citizens.
Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, revealed plans in January for a digital wallet on which Britons could store their passport, driving licence and birth and marriage certificates.
The app was due to be launched this June to help simplify citizen interactions with government services. It would be similar to Apple and Google’s digital wallets.
Officials said that the app would be sufficient to prove a person’s status.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was contacted for comment.
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