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Airlines and airports will spend almost US$33 billion on IT this year as they race to implement cyber security measures, new cloud services and passenger self-service technology.

The investment boom has been highlighted by aviation technology firm SITA in its 2017 Air Transport IT Trends and Insights report, which says airline IT spending is set to rise to about US$24.2 billion this year, or 3% of their revenues. For airports, the spending is likely to be US$8.43 billion, or around 5% of revenues.

“The air transport industry is going through digital transformation and focusing its attention on protecting the business and passengers; making it more efficient; and improving the passenger experience,” said SITA president of air travel solutions Ilya Gutlin.

“Cyber-attacks are a very real threat in the highly interwoven air transport industry, so building solid defences is essential,” Gutlin said.

“Cloud services provide important efficiencies which play a key role in keeping costs down. Investments in self-service improve passenger satisfaction as they welcome the independence and efficiencies it delivers.”

SITA’s report says both airlines and airports agree that the number one priority for their investments is cyber security. Nearly all — 95% of airlines and 96% of airports — plan to invest in major programs or research and development on cyber security initiatives over the next three years.

Cloud services were another top investment priority with 95% of airlines and 85% of airports planning to invest over the next three years, continuing an upward trend since 2015.

Mobile technology has been a focus for airlines too. SITA says the vast majority of carriers currently provide mobile services for check-in (73%), boarding (70%) and flight status notifications (68%), and that within three years more than 97% of carriers will do so.

At airports, self-service processes at check-in, bag drop and boarding are increasingly popular with passengers and 89% of airports are investing in these processes.

SITA says in 2018 more than 70% of airlines and 88% of airports expect their IT spend to increase or remain at the same levels as today.

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