Combining Verifiable Credentials with biometric authentication, Indicio Proven underpins secure, privacy-preserving, and scalable travel tech solutions for governments, airlines, and airports.
By Trevor Butterworth
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently released a new white paper, Unlocking the Future – The Passenger’s Journey Toward a Seamless and Contactless Experience which highlights the pressing challenges facing aviation: growing passenger volumes, repeated identity checks, and the burden of manual document verification at every stage of the journey.
From baggage drop to security, lounge access to boarding, and crossing international borders, travelers are asked to present documents again and again. This creates bottlenecks, frustrates passengers, consumes staff resources, and creates long queues that overwhelm airport infrastructure.
With air travel numbers growing each year and expected to reach eight billion by 2041, IATA argues that it is imperative to shift identity and admissibility checks as quickly as possible into a seamless, contactless system.
This is what Indicio’s decentralized identity technology makes possible.
Indicio was the first to successfully develop and deploy Digital Passport Credentials following the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) specification for Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) to allow travelers to cross borders in seconds.
Indicio was also the first to implement IATA’s OneID for seamless check in, lounge access, and boarding — and show how it could be combined with a Digital Passport Credential for international travel in a simple, single workflow for a traveler.
And Indicio will be the first to deploy a Digital Passport Credential issued by governments by the end of the year — and will use its expertise to help develop these credentials for issuance by European governments as part of the APTITUDE Large Scale Pilot project.
Streamline the traveler experience with reusable digital identity
Airlines, airports, and border agencies all need to confirm passenger identity. This means repeating the same check multiple times.
Indicio Proven® turns these manual checks into automated, seamless experiences by creating “government-grade” digital identities that combine authenticated biometrics with Verifiable Credentials.
Verifiable Credentials are tamper-proof digital credentials held in a digital wallet on a mobile device. They can be cryptographically verified — which is instantaneous.
With Digital Passport Credentials, travelers scan the electronic chips in their passports. Indicio’s software ingests the data and then checks the electronic image of the person against a liveness check to make sure that the person doing the scan is the same as the person the passport belongs to. The passport data is then cryptographically verified to make sure it was issued by a legitimate passport office, upon which the traveler receives a Digital Passport Credential. This credential follows the ICAO specifications for a DTC-1.
Alternatively, the Digital Passport Credential is issued directly by the passport office as a counterpart to a traveler’s physical passport. This credential follows the ICAO specifications for DTC-2.
The result is that travelers have digital identities that can be seamlessly authenticated, either through a face scan or a contactless corridor.
In effect, the traveler’s face becomes their boarding pass. Airlines, airports, and border authorities can trust that the person cleared at the start is the same person moving through each step, without requiring the passenger to repeatedly present paper documents or plastic cards.
Meeting immigration and transit requirements
IATA’s white paper also notes the strain on airlines from needing to confirm that every international traveler has been approved for entry. Manual checks slow down processing and errors can lead to costly delays and fines.
Indicio solves this by making it possible to verify a passenger’s immigration status before they even arrive at the airport.
Credentials that prove visa status or travel authorization can be issued and shared as Verifiable Credentials, and instantly authenticated by the airline and immigration control.
Airlines now have a secure way to stop inadmissible travelers from boarding and ensure smooth operations for carriers.
Why Indicio is the right partner
IATA’s call for an interoperable, end-to-end solution that transforms the passenger journey isn’t something in the distant future, it’s here today at Indicio with technology already in use by airports and governments worldwide.
Our technology gives travelers a consistent, reliable experience anywhere, while providing authorities and airlines the assurance they need everywhere.
The future of aviation depends on removing bottlenecks and maintaining security. Indicio Proven® makes that future possible today.
Get your free travel architecture consultation from one of our experts here.
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