Research Overview

The airport digitalization market is a growth market estimated to generate more than $8.52 billion in revenue by 2030. A highly fragmented market, the top five companies contributed approximately 55% to the global revenue market in 2020. This figure is not expected to change significantly over the forecast period (2021–2030). The top companies in this market by estimated revenue include SITA, ADB Safegate, and Amadeus.

The aviation industry was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with overall 50% reduced capacity, 60% drop in passenger numbers, and $125 billion loss in airport revenues in 2020. Domestic traffic, however, is expected to show greater resilience than international traffic in the short and medium term. How quickly airports and airlines can recover from the pandemic is critical to the market growth. The increasing pace of vaccination globally will also have a positive effect on the market, but passenger traffic is expected to achieve pre-pandemic levels only by 2024.

Airports now accept that investment in physical infrastructure has its limitations and are turning to technology and process automation investments, resulting in higher digitalization adoption rates. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected airport revenues significantly, forcing airports to rethink their business continuity strategies and seek additional revenue streams to mitigate the risks of similar unexpected events in the future. As such, the focus on cargo and non-aeronautical revenues is gradually increasing, while technology investment has taken the front seat to cater to the need for contactless and safe travel.