Amadeus has announced its planned acquisition of Vision-Box to expand its portfolio of biometrics solutions for airports.
The company states that this acquisition will enable it to offer biometrics services across the entire passenger experience at the airport, including at arrivals, border control and boarding.
With the integration, Amadeus also plans to facilitate biometrics interoperability between airports, airlines and border control authorities.
The use of biometrics at airports is growing rapidly worldwide alongside the travel industry’s focus on digitalisation to deliver a more seamless passenger experience.
By providing touchless checkpoints, the technology can increase the efficiency of passenger processing and offer a more attractive passenger experience. In addition, this also helps airlines improve their on-time performance targets while reducing the number of required airline staff at the checkpoints.
“Biometrics is a strategic and fast-growing industry, and Vision-Box’s capabilities will allow us to accelerate our growth in this area. With a portfolio which is deeply complementary to our existing offering for both airports and airlines, our combined best-in-class solutions will now deliver a seamless passenger journey from booking to boarding. This acceleration of our ecosystem approach will bring immediate and tangible benefits to our customers and travellers: it’s how travel works better.”
Amedeus will acquire Vision-Box for an agreed price of approximately 320 million EUR. This will see around 470 Vision-Box employees transfer to Amadeus.
The deal is currently subject to customary regulatory approvals but is expected to close in the first half of 2024.
“I’m extremely excited about the growth opportunities for Vision-Box as we join Amadeus, a leading travel technology player with a global footprint. Together we can deliver the next big step in the travel experience: to unite all separate players and systems in a single, digitally- integrated, and orchestrated ecosystem. This compelling value proposition will drive user experience, on-time-performance, infrastructure usage, and other key indicators to new levels of efficiency.”
