Airport processing times have doubled to three hours during peak time with travel volumes at only about 30% of pre-Covid levels, latest data reveals.
Pre-pandemic, the average passengers spent 1.5 hours in travel processes – check-in, security, border control, customs, and baggage claim.
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 conclusions comes from Iata consumer research based on 13,579 responses from 186 countries.
Airline passengers want to use biometric identification if it speeds up travel processes and cuts the time spent queuing at airports.
The survey found that:
- 85% of passengers want to spend less than 45 minutes on processes at the airport if they are traveling with only hand luggage.
- 90% of passengers want to spend less than one hour on processes at the airport when traveling with a checked bag.
More than half (55%) of passengers identified queuing at boarding as a top area in need for improvement.
The study found that 41% saw queuing at security screening as a top priority for improvement while 38% identified queuing time at border controls/immigration as a top area for improvement.
However, data protection remains a key issue with 56% indicating concern about data breaches.
Passengers also want clarity on who their data is being shared with (52%) and how it is used/processed (51%).
Despite this, the study found that 73% of passengers are willing to share their biometric data to improve airport processes, up from 46% in 2019.
And 88% will share immigration information prior to departure for quicker processing.
Just over a third of passengers (36%) have experienced the use of biometric data when traveling. Of these, 86% were satisfied with the experience, according to the Iata global passenger survey.
The airline trade body’s operations, safety and security senior vice president Nick Careen said: “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.”
He added: “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 [a single biometric travel token initiative such as a face, fingerprint or iris scan]. 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.”