Increasing Security Threats to Fuel Airport Passenger Screening Systems Market

The global air passenger traffic has been growing at a rapid pace, propelled by the increasing demand for air travel from regions like APAC, the Middle East, and South America. And according to Technavio research, over the next 20 years, the global air passenger traffic is anticipated to grow by 3.8% annually, while crossing seven billion passengers by 2034. Such increasing air traffic has also influenced the airport authorities to enhance the capacity of their existing airports to ensure efficiency, the report said. Significant resources like passenger and baggage screening systems are required to accommodate the growth in air traffic so that the operational effectiveness of an airport does not get exhausted. Also, ongoing airport terminal expansion projects in many countries have provided further growth opportunities to the passenger screening system suppliers. For instance, in October 2016, the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India acquired afull-body image-free advanced passenger screening system for its new Terminal 1D. “This new passenger screening system uses millimeter wave technology to detect concealed objects made of a wide array of both metallic and non-metallic materials. This new system is on trial and will be fully operational after November 2016,” said Avimanyu Basu, a lead analyst at Technavio. Large numbers of passengers are handled each year by major airports across the globe. The increasing passenger traffic is exerting enormous pressure on the airport authorities with respect to maintaining the operational efficiencies of the airport, the study said, which remains the prime focus area for reducing unexpected delays in departure of aircraft and maintaining the on-time performance of the airlines. Also, such delays can be extremely frustrating to the customers and can result in a significant cost overrun to both the airlines and airport operators. As passenger security screening remains a key aspect of airport operations, improvement of existing passenger screening processes can help in enhancing on-time performance and efficiency of an airport. Therefore, airlines and vendors together are exploring more efficient screening systems consisting ofbiometric scanners, computed tomography (CT) scanners and automated security screening lanes. There has been a growing concern over increasing terrorist attacks in many countries across the globe, the report noted, so therefore, to deter such occurrences, airport authorities and airlines are increasingly focusing on implementing efficient passenger screening systems at the airports globally. Also, there are new and evolving security threats posed on the aviation industry. Terrorists are now using body-borne improvised explosives devices (BBIED), which subjects all passengers to increased security screenings.