November 10, 2025

The number of self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores has skyrocketed over the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic made a strong case for their usage, too—a solo shopping experience that requires less human interaction is also more hygienic.

In a similar vein, the pandemic shaped air travel in various ways. The need for self-kiosks that would allow passengers to clear boarding processes more quickly and with less human interaction was clear from a hygiene and efficiency perspective, but decision makers in the aviation industry also noticed a rising demand for self-kiosks coming from another source—travelers who had become accustomed to next-level convenience across other aspects in their lives and were expecting the same tier of convenience when clearing both arrival and departure airport procedures.

The industry thus coined the term “digital traveler”, referring to people who utilize digital tools throughout their travel journey. Digital travelers might actually be a larger percentage of the traveler base than one might expect: The 2024 IATA Global Passenger Survey shows that 72% of surveyed travelers state that their maximum desired time to get to the gate is less than 30 minutes if they have only a carry-on bag. This is only about one-third—or even less—of the 90 to 120-minute duration recommended by some internationally-renowned airlines on their websites.

The aviation industry is rising to the challenge, keen to exceed the expectations of the modern-day digital traveler. We spoke to NEC Director of Global Aviation Takashi Nomura who works with airports and airlines to elevate global passenger experiences leveraging new technologies and solutions.

Digitally Transforming Aviation

On a passionate mission to meet these demands, NEC offers technologies and solutions to the aviation industry through its concept, “Truly Seamless Travel”. Nomura shares: “through this comprehensive passenger-centric design approach, airports and airlines can deliver an exceptional travel experience for all passengers to enjoy completely seamless digital identity services without compromising on security.”

A Win-Win for Digital Travelers and the Aviation Industry

These solutions that provide next-level convenience to travelers are just as beneficial to the airline/airport operators who deploy them.

How NEC is Enabling Truly Seamless Travel

NEC has spent decades working closely with governments, airports, and airlines on various projects to improve the airport experience. Considering the needs of both operators and travelers, NEC created the Truly Seamless Travel concept.

Delivering a seamless travel experience for digital travelers requires an interoperable framework that connects various systems for real-time identity verification across every step in the boarding process, and at the core of that framework is NEC’s face recognition technology which recently ranked first in NIST accuracy testing^(*1).

A traveler’s smartphone is also critical in the Truly Seamless Travel process. It can be used to complete check-in processes even before passengers arrive at their airports. Part of the NEC solution that further enhances security across these processes is providing each passenger with a personal, de-centralized digital wallet to store their credentials which include passport, visas, boarding passes, and biometric information.

Nomura shares: “It is important to ensure user credentials are genuine, safely kept, and utilized in an effective manner. With digital wallets, users can fully manage their data and choose who and when to share it with, directly from their smartphone devices.”

Some NEC deployments go a step further and allow passengers to utilize the same credentials to fast track the immigration boarding process without presenting any documents. In some cases, travelers who use these systems are also granted access to dedicated lanes in the immigration process, further reducing wait times.

But how much time do travelers actually stand to save when utilizing these systems? The results show a 54% reduction in time taken for passengers to clear boarding procedures when utilizing NEC's face recognition technology. In short, travelers can now enjoy quicker and smoother boarding processes at no compromise to their safety and security.

Evolving Trends in Aviation

Nomura has begun envisioning how the future of air travel will further evolve to meet the needs of digital travelers. “I expect digital identities to be utilized across a greater number of stakeholders with fewer boundaries, and the key to realizing this is “interoperability”. Airports are critical infrastructures that act as gateways to the city and each country, and the utilization of these technologies across airports will pave the way for their further usage across society. In the future, digitally-certified passenger credentials can be utilized to inter-operate with services provided by government entities and enterprises.”

For enquiries regarding the solutions and technologies that NEC is deploying across the aviation sector you may contact the team. In addition, feel free to let us know in this article’s comments section if you have any views or opinions you would like to share.