Andy Smith – Director for Industry & Innovation at air transport information technology company, SITA – explores the need for more flexibility to address evolving and dynamic threats.
Borders that work well for travellers, officials, airlines and airports alike, are powerful levers for any country’s growth, competitiveness and trust.
To get there, governments are shifting from static checkpoints, treating their borders as living, adaptive systems: ones that share data in real-time, flex with changing risks and put experience and security on the same side.
Borders can shape how customers feel about a country brand, based on how people and systems perform. But to keep people safe and travel flowing effectively, borders need to operate as adaptive and interoperable systems that can flex with fast-changing risks and passenger volumes.
Every time someone crosses a border, an experience is created.
Travellers may enjoy an easy, near invisible process that reinforces confidence in the airline, airport and country.
Or they may spend 90 minutes queuing, incurring repeated document checks – left confused about what comes next.
For frontline border officials, there’s the difference between using their expertise to make high value decisions or being extensions of what might be a rigid system.
And that same border experience can flow through to airport flight schedules, aircraft turnarounds and resource plans or send shockwaves of delays and disruption across the day.
This, together with the need to balance security with free movement through borders, were considerations for officials attending the World Border Security Congress in Vienna.
Borders are evolving – fast
Airports are memory-making businesses, where the experience of each traveller remains central.
But, while growing passenger volumes are expected to double by 2050 (IATA), travel patterns are also being reshaped by sudden events: geopolitical shifts, new migration flows, public health emergencies and mega events like the Olympics or a World Cup.
Many border operations have a real opportunity to move beyond the static checkpoints and siloed workflows of a different era. The prize? Agencies that share traveller data in real-time and make aligned, earlier decisions.
In this environment, rigidity carries risk. Static borders create friction.
They push pressure downstream: immigration queues becoming knock on gate delays, missed connections, crew re-rostering and aircraft out of position. What might appear to be ‘a border problem’ can quickly become a very real frustration and reputational issue.
A focus on the traveller
Most of the conversations about border experiences will focus on the passenger. For example, how fast they move, how short they queue and how friendly their interactions. That matters, but it is only one layer of the experience stack.
For resilient and more flexible borders, we must think about the traveller experience across a whole ecosystem. Frontline officers need intuitive tools, clear policies and joined-up data to assess risk.
Airline staff depend on the predictability of border processing to keep aircraft rotations tight, on time performance high and limit disruption.
Airport and port operations teams also rely on smooth border flows to plan resources, manage peaks and protect non-aeronautical revenues.
And, decision-making within government agencies – immigration, customs, public health, law enforcement – can also shape the passenger experience.
When any single experience breaks, the others feel it.
An incorrect document at arrival might look like a small inefficiency, but on the apron it might become a missed slot, longer turnaround and frustrated customer who, next time, can choose to take their business elsewhere.
A single bad experience is never just a bad experience – it can be a signal that the system is misaligned.
Technology that moves at the speed of travel
It is tempting to treat border tech as the hero of the story.
Biometrics, advanced analytics, pre-clearance, eVisas – all powerful enablers.
The real competitive differentiator comes from deploying technology and designing and running borders as a living ecosystem.
Experience shows the most successful borders are flexible, intelligence-led operations where technology is tightly aligned with the people who work there, the policies they have to adopt, and the process they need to follow.
When technology is interoperable and flexible, the experience is smoother and the border safer.
Better data, shared earlier (or before) the journey, supports higher quality and earlier decisions.
Pre-clearance allows border agencies to focus resources on higher risk cases and avoid the friction of airlines carrying inadmissible passengers.
From rigid checkpoints to living systems
Borders shouldn’t be viewed as physical lines.
They should be treated as an integrated, national scale platform. Modern border strategies aren’t just plans for fences and guards; they are blueprints for how a country wants to balance security, openness and tourism growth.
This means aligning tourism, trade and aviation strategies with the border.
Analysis shows that the upside of doing that is enormous – with potentially billions in additional GDP and millions of jobs at stake (World Travel & Tourism Council & SITA).
So a confluence of these interests must shape the strategy – incorporating tourism ministries, airlines, airports and technology partners who are shaping and co financing border initiatives.
Modern borders are not purely a government issue.
Strategic collaboration and joined up thinking can dismantle silos between immigration, customs, public health and law enforcement.
And partners who understand technology can help to adapt to the dynamic nature of borders, avoiding a rigid operating model of the past.
What does a better border look like?
Border entry points will then be designed around real human journeys, can flex quickly when volumes spike and policies shift and data is being shared to ensure better risk assessments and security decision-making.
Our borders are becoming interoperable, human-centered systems that can deliver strong security and frictionless experiences.
The traveller experience is not just shaped by what happens on a plane or in the terminal. It’s also about what happens when they reach the border.
Get that experience right and we will move people across borders more efficiently whilst build lasting trust.
About Andy Smith & SITA
Andy is Director for Industry & Innovation at SITA, the air transport industry’s tech backbone that works with over 75 governments – including every G20 nation – to modernise airport and border operations.
SITA Borders helps governments strike the right balance between keeping people safe, stopping threats and still making travel smooth and welcoming. Its technology supports the entire passenger journey, from pre-travel authorisation to arrival and clearance, making it easier for border teams and better for travellers.
SITA systems enable more than 2.2 billion journeys every year and connects with 700+ airlines, meaning passengers can move through borders more easily, and agencies get the data they need to make smart decisions.