The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for the rapid adoption of digital identity technologies to enhance aviation security and operational efficiency.
IATA said leading government and industry stakeholders in aviation security participating in the Sydney Leaders Week Conference, hosted by Qantas, supported this position, emphasising the need for collaboration in implementing verifiable credentials (VC) and decentralised identifiers (DIDs).
“Global cooperation keeps flying secure,” said IATA's senior vice president, operations, safety and security Nick Careen. “Adopting verifiable credentials and decentralised identifiers standards is natural next step in reinforcing security, trust, and efficiency. Every aviation stakeholder wants flying to be even more secure — which crosses geopolitical divides.”
IATA said digital identity could reduce fraud and unauthorised access; enable secure, cross-border, interoperable identity verification; and allow for operational efficiency by streamlining document verification.
The conference is being attended by industry experts and government representatives from Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.