INSIDER TRAVEL REPORT THE EYES HAVE IT
A New Biometics Company May Now Make It Much Easier For You To Get Through The Airport
Amadeus, a Spanish travel-tech giant, plans to acquire IDEMIA Public Security (IPS), a French biometrics and identity services provider, for €1.2 billion. The acquisition will enhance Amadeus’ biometric and identity capabilities, increasing its role as a central player in the travel ecosystem. The integration of IPS’s technology will hopefully help enable seamless journeys, accelerating Amadeus’ growth in airports and border checkpoints.
Will Amadeus now be able to move passengers more quickly through airports? Amadeus thinks so and said this acquisition fits naturally as the company already connects airlines, airports, hotels and border systems. This, they are happy to say, will reinforce their broader ambition to become a key orchestrator of the travel process. It follows their 2024 purchase of Vision-Box, a leading provider of biometrics for airports, airlines and border control.
Trusted digital identity is becoming a foundation in travel, and biometric adoption has quickly accelerated across the industry. By integrating biometric capabilities with airline, airport, border systems and hotels, Amadeus can help precipitate the next phase of automation, ensuring a secure identity-layer exists across an entire journey. A combined Amadeus-IPS collaboration should also drive the further digitalization of core travel processes, delivering faster, more secure inter-connectivity. (Biometrics allows identity to be verified instantly, which leads to faster processing, better security and more efficient operations, from booking through airport processing and boarding. All good things, right?)
“Alongside AI, biometrics is one of the most transformative technologies for delivering fast, convenient, and secure journeys, reducing friction and improving the traveler experience,” claims Luis Maroto, president and CEO of Amadeus.
The intended acquisition is expected to close mid-2027. So all that super efficiency is a way off at the moment. But it’s coming, and anything that improves the current lousy airport experience is more than welcome…
For more information — i.e., the really wonky stuff — visit www.amadeus.com.
