Air transport and digital technologies

AutorFrancesca Salerno
CargoAssociate Professor of Navigation Law, University of Naples «Parthenope».
Páginas79-96
79
Revista de Derecho del Transporte
N.º 25 (2020): 79-96
* Fecha de recepción del trabajo: 03/09/2019. Fecha de aceptación del trabajo: 13/01/2020.
AIR TRANSPORT AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES *
Francesca Salerno
Associate Professor of Navigation Law
University of Naples «Parthenope»
ABSTRACT
In the air transport sector, the use of digital technology has helped improve
fundamental processes, including airport handling operations and air traff‌ic
control systems. However, digital sophistication has increased cyber threats and
highlighted the need to implement technical and legal measures to stem this
phenomenon at the international level. The growing digitisation of society has
prompted the EU to establish a European framework for cyber security certif‌ica-
tion, aimed at def‌ining the procedure for setting up certif‌ication programmes
covering products, services and/or systems.
Keywords: smart airports, ATM systems, cyber security, ICAO strategy, digi-
tisation in the European Union.
SUMMARY: I. THE USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR.—II. INFORMATION TECH-
NOLOGY AND AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.—III. ISSUES RELATED TO CYBER SECURITY. THE
ROLE OF ICAO.—IV. DIGITISATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.—V. CONCLUSIONS.
I. THE USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE CIVIL AVIATION
SECTOR
In the last decade, the air transport sector has increasingly exploited advances
in digital technology to improve fundamental processes, including airport bag-
gage-handling, f‌light information display devices and communication and air
traff‌ic control technology.
The Airport Cooperative Research Program, ACRP 2015 (an industrial-lev-
el applied research programme that develops short-term practical solutions to
problems faced by airport operators), highlighted the trend towards the ever-
increasing interconnection in airports, with the aim of optimising resources and
improving collaboration between operators. Airports are becoming increasingly
dependent on IT services provided via internet, while some airports allow passen-
gers and staff to use their own hardware (smartphones, tablets and computers/
laptops) to access network data, systems and resources.
FRANCESCA SALERNO
80 Revista de Derecho del Transporte
N.º 25 (2020): 79-96
One of the aviation industry’s priorities is to improve the passenger experi-
ence by offering self-service options, both on land and on board, and to simplify
boarding and documentation checking procedures at the airport. Digital technol-
ogy will speed up handling operations and optimise waiting times and transit
within airports: on their smartphones, passengers will receive information on
waiting times for requested operations, f‌light status and how to ensure they reach
their gate on time, as well as baggage information.
In this regard, new so-called smart luggage tags have recently been intro-
duced 1, which allow luggage to be tracked continuously 2. Signif‌icant investments
are also planned in terms of security, with the use of biometric technologies to
automatically manage passenger identif‌ication and to install self-boarding gates.
Specif‌ically, this new technology is based on a facial scan at the f‌irst point of con-
tact that captures the passenger’s biometric details 3. After comparing the record
with travel documents —generally the passport— a unique, secure token is cre-
ated for the passenger. With this the traveller gains access at subsequent stages
of their journey, including check-in, boarding and border checks, with a simple
facial check and without showing other documentation 4.
It should be noted that, in order to achieve maximum interaction with cus-
tomers, airlines are equipping themselves with IT infrastructures to collect pas-
senger data 5. In this respect, the expression «big data» is used to indicate the
large amount of unstructured and semi-structured data that airlines are system-
atically accumulating on their customers from different sources 6.
1 In 2016, according to data released by the International Aeronautical Telecommunications Com-
pany (IATC), 21.6 million baggage items were «mislaid», of which about 1.5 million were never recov-
ered: the smart label could help drastically reduce these inconveniences, which cost airlines $2.1 billion.
2 In this regard, IATA Resolution 753 (Baggage Tracking), in force since June 2018, establishes that
all luggage carried in the hold must be constantly tracked from the start to the end of the journey: from
check-in and loading in the hold, to transfers to other f‌lights (for baggage in transit) or arrival, when the
baggage is returned to the passenger.
3 Thanks to this technological innovation, last February Lufthansa achieved an unprecedented re-
cord, managing to complete boarding of its Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, in just
20 minutes.
4 Trials of the innovative system began in Australia in 2007, the year SmartGates were f‌irst in-
troduced, which carry out passport checks through facial recognition. The device is synchronised with
the country’s eight major international airports, and therefore every passenger who has passed through
those terminals can be intercepted thanks to this application. The process was improved in 2017 when
Australia tested the f‌irst contactless technology at Canberra International Airport. This facial recognition
system makes it possible to identify travellers’ faces and match all their data —including f‌lights taken—
to conf‌irm their identity, without them needing to show their passport. But biometrics is not just used
to manage border crossings: the company that manages Sydney Airport has recently begun collaborating
with Qantas Airways to take advantage of face recognition before departure, in order to speed up the
boarding procedure on some international f‌lights.
5 These infrastructures must be able to collect, aggregate, analyse and display big data in real time,
and have the capacity to understand and correctly use the data collected. Customer behaviour data can be
used to make key business decisions through market segmentation and predictive analysis.
6 By way of example, American Airlines has moved from a collection and analysis approach of
upselling add-ons to an intelligent «collection, tracking, action» system that analyses 150 variables in
a customer’s prof‌ile. The technique is based on analysing previous f‌light destinations and passenger
purchase preferences, in order to produce a tailored offer. This new system has increased American

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