Transforming Airports for a Safer Travel Experience

Neonode creates innovative technology for a safer travel experience with contactless touch solutions for terminal, inflight and border control applications.

One of the hardest hit industries from the pandemic was arguably the travel & tourism industry. International passenger traffic suffered a dramatic 60% drop in 2020 when the pandemic first hit, but finally two years later passenger volumes have returned to comparative year-on-year levels with the 2019 pre-pandemic period.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), who supports aviation with global standards for airline safety, security, efficiency and sustainability, are working on a roadmap together with Airports Council International (ACI) to rebuild confidence in air travel safety while ensuring it is not a vector for the spread of COVID-19 or other pathogens.

The roadmap proposes paths to an efficient process throughout the end-to-end passenger journey, and it stresses that airlines and their supply chain partners need to be ready to meet new regulatory requirements to resume and maintain operations. It suggests that governments should simplify border control formalities and that self-service options should be made available and utilized as much as possible to limit contact at all passenger touchpoints. It also states that a general move towards greater use of touchless technology and biometrics should be pursued.

Contactless Touch Provides Safer Travel Experiences

Neonode has been working hard to facilitate a quick transformation to safer terminals using contactless touch technology. Our ambition is to minimize human-to-human contact and reduce the risk of spreading disease through touching public surfaces (both landside and airside) and even onboard the aircraft. Together with our partners, our technology has already been implemented in airports around the world. Some great examples can be seen at Changi Airport in Singapore and Hamad International Aiport in Qatar where exisiting infrastructure was quickly transformed into touchless solutions in a response to new passenger demands.

Digital Innovation with Neonode Touch Sensor Modules

A study conducted by the ACI regarding world airport digital transformation found that dedicated innovation teams exist at 6 in 10 airports. Airport leaders acknowledge that business success is not just about the deployment of new technologies, instead, success is about transforming the entire business of airports - adapting to customers, employees and cultures to meet targeted objectives and goals.

Neonode Touch Sensor Modules provide the creative flexibility to meet the rapidly changing needs of the people, as well as the economic and business goals of the airport. We offer two innovative contactless touch solutions, including:

1. Parallel plane solution which creates an interactive area above or in front of a display or surface

2. Holographic solution which creates touch interaction on an in-air display

Neonode Touch Sensor Modules can easily be retrofitted on existing equipment to quickly and cost-effectively transform traditional touch screens into contactless touch, removing the need to replace existing equipment. For more advanced solutions, our sensor modules can be customized for new designs, providing the opportunity to completely transform existing facilities and processes for safer and more effective travel solutions.

A common fulfillment since the outbreak of COVID-19 has been the transformation of existing self-service check-in kiosks and baggage drop kiosks to contactless touch. The rollout generally takes around 15 minutes per kiosk and configuration to existing interfaces means that there is no need to reprogram the existing GUI on the machines.

Application Examples

Neonode Touch Sensor Modules provide a high degree of design freedom and are suitable for ground and in-air applications.

Airports

Create contactless experiences in terminals with:

• Self-service check-in kiosks

• Self-service baggage-drop terminals

• Elevator keypads

• Vending machines

• Self-ordering systems in restaurants and shops

• Digital signage

Inflight

Help protect passengers and cabin crew in the aircraft by reducing the need for human-to-human interaction.

• Transform inflight entertainment screens to contactless touch to enable:

  • Entertainment to be controlled without surface touch

  • Food and drinks to be ordered digitally on intercontinental flights

  • In-screen duty-free shopping

• Transform galley control screens so flight crew can work easily with gloves and other PPT to reduce the spread of germs throughout the cabin.

Download the Neonode Airport Experience infographic.

More Information

Learn more about our contactless touch technology or contact us to discuss your besoke needs.

About ICAO
ICAO is funded and directed by 193 national governments to support their diplomacy and cooperation in air transport as signatory states to the Chicago Convention (1944). Its core function is to maintain an administrative and expert bureaucracy (the ICAO Secretariat) supporting these diplomatic interactions, and to research new air transport policy and standardization innovations as directed and endorsed by governments through the ICAO Assembly, or by the ICAO Council which the assembly elects.
Visit: www.icao.int

About IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 290 airlines or 82% of global air traffic. IATA supports many areas of aviation activity and help formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues.
Visit: www.iata.org