Most agree that air travel itself will not be the same at least in the near future. With Covid-19 still being a big factor, airports and airlines will continue to impose restrictions. Until there is a better understanding of how to operate in a Covid-19 world, there will be significant investment in safety by airports and airlines. The use of new screening and tracking technologies is expected to be much more intense. To limit direct contact with passengers, technology will be leveraged more heavily for passenger check-in and security.

We can also anticipate the deployment of thermography technology to identify passengers with elevated body temperatures. In Singapore, the government has already deployed robots in public parks to remind people to social distance. Similarly, robotics will soon be leveraged in airports to limit direct contact.

Ideally, in the medium and long term, there will be rapid testing of technology at airports that can identify or clear travelers of Covid-19 or other contagious diseases. Technology will also be required and used to track passengers’ travel history. It will be more important now to track and know a passenger’s travel history, determining if they have recently visited a hotspot country or city.

Most importantly, the development and utilisation of technology that limits direct contact and tracking will be imperative. Allowing passengers self-check in, line queuing technology, automatic sanitisation of baggage and passenger compartments. Virus detection and testing technology will have to evolve to spot potential infections before, during and after air travel.

Data processing applications will play a central role in the aviation industry. Information related to passenger travel and health history, real-time virus information by location, travel restrictions and more will need to be captured.

All this data will need to be analysed in real time with the help of analytical and AI tools to allow the aviation industry to provide safe travel. Ultimately, the long-term answer will require a vaccine, treatments or a cure; but until then, technology will be critical for safe travel.

In some sense, the issues and solutions are data dependent. Airports and airlines will need to quickly identify potential issues, example a passenger exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms, and notify the right people quickly and remediate. ManageEngine’s ServiceDesk Plus does all this quite effectively.

ServiceDesk Plus is a help desk that is designed to capture incidents, notify the responsible individuals and implement changes to remediate a problem. Additionally, the built-in AI capabilities within ServiceDesk Plus can provide self-service functionality for staff to query a knowledge database or determine how to handle certain situations.

Beyond the help desk, software will be imperative for managing the expanded technology infrastructure required by airports and airlines. There will be more applications, devices and expanded networks deployed by the aviation sector, and all of these technologies will need to be monitored, managed, analysed and secured.

Key takeaways

• In Singapore, the government has already deployed robots in public parks to remind people to social distance.
• Robotics will soon be leveraged in airports to limit direct contact.
• There will be rapid testing of technology at airports that can identify or clear travelers of Covid-19 or other contagious diseases.
• Technology will also be required and used to track passengers’ travel history.
• More important now to track a passenger’s travel history, determining if they visited a hotspot country.
• In some sense, the issues and solutions are data dependent.