Ready to fly again? Ready for crowded airports? Ready to take those
first tentative steps back into the big, wide world after years spent in
lockdown?
Get ready for some changes – along with the high cost of flying as
passenger demand exceeds seat capacity and carriers scramble to get
planes back in service and retrain pilots to fly them.
One
of the first changes that passengers will notice at airports is that
technology is moving forward at such pace that some of those once
tedious tasks when travelling might go the way of paper boarding passes.
The end of airplane mode on mobile devices is one of the big changes
that 2023 will bring. Passengers will be able to have their electrical
devices turned on with the data activated so that they can use 5G
provided by the airline.
Airlines will, however, keep a close check on what electrical
equipment passengers bring on board. On a recent Scoot flight from
Taiwan to Singapore, cabin crew had to deal, pre-take-off, with a fire
caused by an overheated power bank being carried by a passenger.
As with most new technology, there will be some confusion but those
flying with Qatar Airways will receive help from Qverse with a MetaHuman
cabin crew helping passengers to tour, navigate and check in at Hamad
International Airport, using their own personal electronic devices.
Airports
already use biometrics for travel document identification, and this
technology will be used to identity check for any payments travellers
make during their trips, such as an inflight meal or duty free
purchases.
Elsewhere several airports – Paris and Rome among them – are working
on eVTOL electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles to whisk
passengers between terminals and, in the case of Delta Air Lines – in
partnership with Joby Aviation - a pioneering home-to-airport eVTOL
transfer service.
Much
will change in 2023, but the safety of passengers will remain
paramount, which is the reason that the World Health Organisation is
recommending that passengers should return to wearing face masks on
long-haul international flights.
It comes as several nations require testing for people arriving from
mainland China, in response to a surge in cases after the lifting of
China’s zero-Covid policy.