Research Overview

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, high passenger traffic was constraining airports, leading them to look for efficiency solutions to increase throughput. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of air passengers in Asia-Pacific was expected to grow 4.7% annually, compared to 3% worldwide. This massive volume of passengers in airports of all sizes required passenger processing systems to increase efficiency and throughput, and postponed much-needed terminal expansion or addition. Even so, plans for 228 new airports were underway in Asia-Pacific; these projects prioritized automated systems as well.

The staggering effect of COVID-19 on passenger air travel and airport operations is that it will be years before airports reach passenger volumes, revenue, or liquidity they enjoyed in 2019. That said, the virus has given rise to the need for more advanced automation solutions. Future travelers will be more conscious of unnecessary interaction, favoring automated solutions. Cost-saving will offer airports the impetus to invest in automation solutions once budgets are replenished, though that will take a few years.

In a field of dozens of global industry participants, Frost & Sullivan independently plotted the top 10 companies in this Frost Radar™ analysis; it covers SITA, Amadeus/ICM, Materna IPS, Daifuku/Scarabee, Collins Aerospace, Embross, Easier, ADB SAFEGATE, RESA, and Vision-Box.