How can we scale seamless border crossings with the Digital Travel Credentials (DTC)?
If you follow developments in aviation then you will no doubt have noticed the speed at which the journey experience is digitalizing.
Self-service is now common at airports across the world. Many have already begun to apply biometrics at key service points like check-in, bag drop and boarding, indeed Perth Airport recently announced Australia’s first fully biometric-enabled departure process.
At immigration we’re seeing a combination of biometrics and digital identity that allow people to be pre-checked so they can cross the border in just a few seconds, as demonstrated recently in Curaçao. In Indonesia, returning citizens don’t even need to pause at an e-Gate, instead they can simply walk through one of several newly installed Seamless Corridors and their identity is validated ‘on-the-move’.
This seamless end-to-end experience is increasingly being brought together using digital wallets that allow travelers to securely store, and consent to share, key information and travel documents. Progress is exemplified by Lufthansa’s successful testing of the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) for a wide range of travel use cases.
We really are on the cusp of far smoother and simpler air travel. Where a fast, simple and secure airport experience is characterized by brief facial scans, rather than queues and document checks. However, the best is yet to come.
Why do DTC matter?
Interoperability is crucial in aviation. That’s why international standards which secure interoperability across multiple airlines, airports and immigration borders have long been prioritized over one-off displays of innovation. While test projects are important, it’s scaling innovation across the network that has the greatest impact for passengers and the industry.
As a cryptographically verifiable representation of the traveler’s passport, Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) promise to do just that. The DTC standard is being developed by the United Nations body, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ensuring widespread adoption across its 193 member states.
Issued by a government, a passport is an identity document that proves someone’s identity but also their citizenship. It provides a ‘request’ from one state to others, carried by the holder, to facilitate the international travel, entry and stay of the passport holder. Border agencies at the arrival country rely on the proof of citizenship to ensure the traveler is bonafide.
To date, passports have not been digitalized at scale, and not in a standardized way that can work across the air travel network and international borders. This means the industry remains reliant on paper passports, which must typically be scanned or inspected on arrival – a step that must also be digitalized to achieve fully seamless travel. It’s this final step we are about to take.
How the DTC will improve the experience of travel
In a future defined by digital wallets that allow for convenient, secure, consent-based sharing of documents, we urgently need a digital version of the passport.
Following introduction of DTCs in the years ahead, passengers will be able to use their phone to scan their passport in advance of travel and obtain a DTC. This will be conveyed to the arrival state in advance of travel so background checks and document verification can take place – tasks that are typically undertaken at the arrival airport today. In effect, the border authority will have already done its job and will be satisfied that the traveler can enter the country, well before their flight even takes off.
When the traveler disembarks the aircraft, all that’s required is a biometric facial scan to ensure the human in question matches to the DTC. As we’ve seen, such biometric authentication is fast and can be undertaken ‘on-the-move’ using new biometric corridors or eGates, in just a few seconds.
Today we’ve seen pockets of innovation of this nature, as mentioned above, but truly seamless border crossing cannot be scaled globally until the DTC is available and passports are digitalized.
Next steps for the DTC
Thankfully, significant work on the DTC standard has already taken place, and we are now moving to the testing phase. ICAO categorizes DTCs into three types, each offering varying levels of security and interoperability:
- Type 1 – Generated directly by a traveler by reading the chip in their e-passport via a mobile device or self-service kiosk. The passport remains the primary physical component.
- Type 2 – Issued and digitally signed by a passport authority, linking the DTC not only to the passport but also to an additional cryptographic physical component (such as a mobile device).
- Type 3 – Independently issued and digitally signed by an authority without needing to be linked to a traditional passport. The traveler’s device becomes the sole physical component
At Amadeus we are collaborating closely with ICAO, border authorities, airports and airlines to begin initial DTC pilot projects (more news to follow soon). This means the ability to fully digitalize the border crossing experience is now tantalizingly close, and with it, the final hurdle to realize end-to-end seamless journeys at scale.
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