Big step for interoperable biometric and digital identity solutions as SITA and IDEMIA collaborate to redefine the way we travel

SITA, the global leader in air transport technology, and IDEMIA Public Security, a world leader in digital technologies, biometrics, and security have announced a collaboration to advance interoperability, trust, and data security through a globally recognized Digital Travel Ecosystem. This initiative aims to develop an open-to-all trust network that brings together key players in the industry to advance the way passengers travel around the world. This collaboration is focused on driving interoperability across the travel sector, ensuring that travelers’ digital identities are seamlessly recognized and trusted worldwide.

As the travel industry evolves, stakeholders across various sectors - including governments, airports, and airlines - are rapidly adopting digital identities and biometric solutions, creating challenges in maintaining consistency, trust, and security across the travel journey. SITA’s Digital Travel Ecosystem will bring together key players in identity management to provide a solution to these challenges by creating an open, secure, and interoperable framework that ensures a travelers’ digital identity is trusted globally, without the need for direct integrations between issuers and verifiers.

The decentralized nature of the Digital Travel Ecosystem ensures that travelers’ digital identities and personal information remain fully under their control. At its core is a privacy-by-design approach, developed in partnership with Indicio, which enables the secure global sharing of passengers’ digital credentials. This approach ensures that travelers are sharing their information only with explicit consent. It is only then that this data can be securely shared across various sectors, giving these stakeholders the assurance that the travelers’ digital identity has been verified and issued in real-time. IDEMIA and SITA’s collaboration will further expand the ecosystem’s reach to new digital travelers and further enable touchpoints driving seamless and trusted end-to-end travel experiences and ultimately leading to improved operational efficiency and reduced complexity for all parties involved.

“As the travel industry adopts a wide range of digital identity and biometric solutions, ensuring interoperability and trust is key across various sectors,” said Jeremy Springall, Senior Vice President of Borders at SITA. “With IDEMIA’s collaboration in the Digital Travel Ecosystem, we’re enhancing the ability of stakeholders to trust a travelers’ digital identity across the entire travel journey. This collaboration is critical to advancing global standards for privacy, trust, and security, while enabling smoother operations and reducing costs.”

IDEMIA’s involvement will focus on defining, demonstrating and promoting interoperability of biometric and digital systems, ensuring that a travelers’ digital identity can be recognized and trusted across various airports, borders, and travel touchpoints. This collaboration will expand the Digital Travel Ecosystem’s reach, enabling faster passenger processing, enhanced data security, and greater resource optimization for stakeholders.

“In a world where data privacy concerns are at the forefront, this approach of an interoperable Digital Travel Ecosystem provides a responsible, transparent solution for ensuring how passenger information is shared,” added Tim Ferris, Senior Vice President, Travel & Transport, IDEMIA Public Security. “With our shared mission to enhance the passenger experience without compromising security, IDEMIA is proud to partner with SITA. By integrating our technologies around common standards, we can drive global adoption of secured digital capability and biometric authentication, ensuring that passengers’ data remains secure while delivering a streamlined travel experience.”

As governments and travel stakeholders increasingly adopt digital travel solutions, the interoperable Digital Travel Ecosystem provides a scalable, open framework that supports secure, real-time data exchange without compromising privacy. This approach will drive operational efficiency and strengthen trust across borders and various travel touchpoints.