SITA has stepped up its commitment to developing a permanent self-sovereign identity for air travel. The IT provider has become a premium donor of the Sovrin Foundation, the international non-profit organisation focused on the advancement of self-sovereign digital identity.
Self sovereign means a lifetime portable identity for any person, organisation or thing that allows the holder to present verifiable credentials in a privacy-protecting way. These credentials can represent things as diverse as a passport or an airline ticket.
Having successfully deployed its Smart Path technology at airports to streamline the departure process through the use of a single biometric token, using a passenger’s face as their passport SITA’s expanded role with the Sovrin Foundation is key to speeding up the development of a permanent digital identity for use during air travel and accepted by governments, airlines or airports globally.
“We expect in the coming years that the development of a universally accepted digital identity will replace the traditional passport,” said Gustavo Pina, Director of the SITA lab. “This will allow travel across borders with any airline or airport while ensuring that passengers remain in full control of their identity while providing actionable, trusted data only to appropriate parties such as border agencies.”
Benefits of implementing self-sovereign identity include reduced arrivals infrastructure, providing new opportunities to increase existing airport throughput by design and not expansion.
