LAGOS – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for the rapid adoption of digital identity technologies to enhance aviation security and operational efficiency.
A statement by the association said that leading government and industry stakeholders in aviation security participating in the Sydney Leaders Week Conference supported this position, emphasizing the need for collaboration in implementing Verifiable Credentials (VC) and Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs).
Sydney Leaders Week, hosted by Qantas, is being attended by industry experts and government representatives from Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
Participants accepted that digital identity could build stronger document integrity by reducing fraud and unauthorized access, global trust through enabling secure, cross-border, interoperable identity verification, and operational efficiency, which streamlines document verification for a smoother passenger experience, strengthening regulatory oversight, and optimizing resource allocation.
Commenting on the development, Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Operations, Safety, and Security, said that global cooperation kept flying secure.
He noted that adopting verifiable credentials and decentralized identifier standards was a natural next step in reinforcing security, trust, and efficiency.
Every aviation stakeholder wants flying to be even more secure—which crosses geopolitical divides. The technology is ready and proven. We now need to take the momentum of this meeting and work towards obtaining a recommendation at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assembly later this year,” Careen added.
Aviation security leaders at the conference also identified key actions for governments to drive the industry’s digital transformation.
Some of them are fast-track technology integration, promotion of aviation digital ID use cases, investment in capacity building, and increased stakeholder engagement.
As part of this effort, IATA’s One ID initiative promotes globally interoperable digital identity standards, enabling passengers to verify their travel documents before departure and move through the airport using biometric recognition instead of physical documents.
One ID works in harmony with ICAO’s Digital Travel Credential ensuring security and efficiency while maintaining privacy and compliance with global regulations.
IATA is also advancing its Aviation Security Trust Framework, which sees regulatory alignment, cross-sector collaboration, and infrastructure as critical components to realize the benefits of digital identity in global aviation.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT
