Technology to play key role in helping avoid the capacity crunch – Airport World
Technology to play key role in helping avoid the capacity crunch – Airport World
https://airport-world.com/technology-to-play-key-role-in-helping-avoid-the-capacity-crunch/
Publish Date: 2026-07-06 07:38:00
Source Domain: airport-world.com
Aviation is preparing to move twice as many passengers within a generation, without doubling the airports, the fleet, or the people standing at the borders.
The prediction in SITA’s Impact Report 2025 sets out how the industry is closing that gap, and the answer is increasingly software rather than concrete.
Based on IATA data, the industry will carry eight billion passengers a year within 20 to 25 years, heading toward 10 billion by 2050.
Drawn from a year of work with airlines, airports, governments, and travel partners worldwide, the SITA Impact Report 2025 tracks how technology is becoming the principal way the industry adds capacity, manages disruption, and reduces its environmental footprint.
David Lavorel, CEO of SITA, said: “With passenger numbers heading toward 10 billion a year by 2050, the question is unavoidable: how do we move twice as many travelers without doubling our infrastructure?
“The SITA Impact Report 2025 shows how that shift is already underway. Airports are scaling capacity within the buildings they already have, avoiding the cost and timelines of new construction. Governments are clearing borders before passengers ever reach a queue or an officer’s booth.
“AI is moving out of pilot programmes and into the operations rooms where flights are run. None of this is one company’s achievement. It is a shared tech transformation, where airlines, airports, governments, and partners are powering the future of air transport together.”
According to SITA, some of the most visible changes are at the border. In Singapore, residents now move through immigration in 10 seconds with no passport required, using face and iris biometrics, in what is the world’s first passport-less border clearance.
In Aruba, pre-cleared passengers complete border processing on arrival in as little as 8 seconds, 78% faster than before, by combining digital travel credentials with biometric checks.
Behind these visible shifts, more than 271 million travellers a year now…
