Lufthansa has partnered with Amadeus to test the European Union Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet for travel.
The trial, which was conducted between the end of July and the middle of August and part of the EU Digital Wallet Consortium (EWC) initiative, focused on the online check-in process and airport services such as bag drop, security gates and boarding.
The airline also had a group of its frequent flyers use the digital token to test the online check-in process, with 153 out of 160 managing to complete the process successfully.
Patrick Sgueglia, senior product manager of airport experience, standards and industry solutions at Lufthansa, said wallet creation and check-in tests were successful and a “sign that this is the way forward.”
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The airline also asked test participants if they would use digital wallets for non-travel purposes, such as payments, on top of questions around acceptance, ease of use and the installation process.
“It was a resounding yes. We don’t want to recreate the wheel here, we don’t want to use some separate process, we want to use something people are used to, iOS, Apple wallet, this is exactly what that is. This is going to already fit into people’s lives using Apple Pay, and I really think this is the way forward.”
For passengers, it means less manual checks and getting through the airport faster, and the increased efficiency also allows for staff to be allocated to other areas. It is also more secure because the documents are verified and hard to forge, Sgueglia said.
While privacy can be seen as once challenge to adoption of the EUDI, Sgueglia said that in all the passenger surveys it has conducted, the vast majority of passengers are willing to connect their digital document and use their biometrics in return for a more seamless airport experience.
“Even among privacy-conscious travelers, we still see people wanting to get quickly through those bottlenecks. One thing the EU Digital ID has been created around is something called selective disclosure—you select what you are willing to participate in,” he said.
Rudy Daniello, Amadeus’ executive vice president for airport operations, also emphasized the importance of privacy and said there is no storage or central management of user data.
“When you tap on the device, you exchange only the data needed to perform the action. As soon as this is done, the data is totally wiped out from the device, there is no history or anything linked to this data. It means that the traveler owns his or her data and does not need to request deletion.”
Sgueglia said that travelers could also be encouraged to sign up once they see the efficiency of automated processing versus the potential queues for manual processing.
While the travel industry is known for its fragmented processes that can hamper progress, Sgueglia said interoperability has been key to the EU’s work towards a common digital wallet.
Daniello said the European Commission had provided a standard design “which aims at bringing back some level of homogeneity.”
“Providing that standard design will enable all the different member states to deliver, during 2026, a sovereign digital identity for their country but respecting that standard.”
Amadeus plans to test the wallet and digital travel credential for airport security and border control later this year. The company is also working with 16 airlines on its own digital travel document verification initiative, Travel Ready. The initiative provides the infrastructure for third-party wallets, including the EUDI, to work with the travel industry.
While the EWC’s mandate to conduct large-scale pilots and develop the infrastructure for the EUDI wallet has now ended, a further two consortia have been set up to continue the work.
“We Build” will focus on business and payment use cases for the EUDI wallet, such as banking, while “Aptitude” is focused on use cases such as the Digital Travel Credential, ticketing and vehicle registration.