SWISS trials AI-powered boarding

Swiss International Air Lines is trialling the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct its passenger count during boarding on selected flights between April and June, with the aim of enhancing security and easing the workload of its cabin personnel.

The airline has announced a three-month trial of an AI-powered passenger count during the boarding process on selected flights from Zurich. The aim is to enhance security and ease the workload of the airline’s cabin personnel.

During the trial, a camera will be temporarily installed in the cabin to record passengers as they embark and determine their total numbers.

The recordings will be used solely to train the AI application in the boarding process, which must be able to distinguish whether a passenger is carrying an infant in their arms and function faultlessly even in challenging lighting conditions.

The reliability of the AI will be continually analysed and improved throughout the trial.

To ensure data security and data protection, SWISS will process all the recordings in full compliance with the strict European (GDPR) and Swiss (FADP) data protection provisions and will then delete the data.

The data recorded will be used solely for passenger count purposes and no individuals will be identified from them. Additionally, only visual images will be recorded, and only in the aircraft door area. No other recordings such as audio will be performed.

During the trial, SWISS cabin crew will also conduct a parallel passenger count using the established manual procedure on the flights concerned.

Passengers on the flights will be informed of the trial before they embark.

SWISS plans to analyse the results of the trial and then decide on the further course of action as well as on a possible introduction.

The use of AI in passenger count procedures could significantly enhance security and ease the workload of cabin personnel, benefiting time-conscious UK-based business travellers.