May 13, 2025
by
Jonathan Andrews
Nearly three in four airports are prioritising cybersecurity in their IT spend, while over half are preparing to deploy AI tools like machine learning and computer vision by 2027, according to SITA’s 2024 Air Transport IT Insights. The report highlights the industry's accelerating efforts to modernise in response to increasing digital risks and growing passenger numbers.
“AI is emerging as an initiative that might impact almost all of the processes in the airport,” the report notes, reflecting how AI is becoming central to operational strategy.
The focus is squarely on internal efficiency: 57 percent of airports are using AI primarily to optimise operations, with significant deployments in cybersecurity (52 percent), customer service (42 percent), and passenger flow management (40 percent). Many airports report that by “leveraging advanced analytics and AI, [they] can gain deeper insights into operations, identify areas for improvement, and implement data-driven strategies to enhance overall performance.”
Despite the enthusiasm, AI maturity remains uneven. While nearly half of airports are integrating data to support AI, only 9 percent have begun training models, and just 2 percent have implemented large language models (LLMs), suggesting there’s still a long runway ahead for advanced adoption.
Cybersecurity, however, has established itself as the dominant IT concern. SecurityOperations Centres (SOCs) are in place or planned at 77 percent of airports, and AI-driven threat detection is already in use by nearly half. As the reportputs it, “ongoing cybersecurity threats affecting the airport industry are thesingle biggest challenge that we face.”
Modernisation is also driving investment in IT infrastructure (67 percent) and passenger processing systems (63 percent). Yet cultural and structural transformation remains a barrier: 63 percent of airports cite changing business processes as their biggest challenge, above issues like vendor security and skills shortages.
When asked about the most transformational initiatives underway, many airports point to “the implementation of a comprehensive Airport Operations Control Centre powered by advanced analytics and AI.”
The insights are based on survey responses from 236 airports, representing around23 percent of global passenger traffic. Airports of varying sizes and geographies participated, and results were weighted by annual traffic volumes to ensure a representative industry snapshot.
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