Total airport processing time for passengers has doubled with Covid-19-related measures and could balloon to as high as eight hours per trip without process automation, according to analysis by the International Air Transport Association.
Prior to Covid-19, the average time for travel processes at airports for a full journey—which includes check-in, security, border control, customs and baggage claim—was about 90 minutes, according to IATA. The association's data indicates that has increased to about three hours during peak travel times, even with travel volumes at less than a third of what they were pre-Covid-19. That time increase largely has come at check-in and border control points, where authorities have to check health credentials as paper documents.
With current processing measures, that would be 5.5 hours per trip if travel volumes were at 75 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels and eight hours were volumes to fully recover, according to IATA's modelling.
Integrating health credential screening into automated processes already in place could help prevent such an increase, according to IATA. That would require standardised interoperable digital tickets for Covid-19 test results and vaccination records, a matter IATA hopes is addressed at upcoming G7 discussions next month.
"Nobody will tolerate waiting hours at check-in or for border formalities," IATA director general Willie Walsh said in a statement. "We must automate the checking of vaccine and test certificates before traffic ramps-up. The technical solutions exist, but governments must agree digital certificate standards and align processes to accept them. And they must act fast."