SITA, founded in the late 1940s, provides IT and communication services to the global airline industry, and is owned by a broad network of major air travel service providers, accounting for roughly 90% of all airlines.

The identity app, dubbed the SITA Digital Traveler Identity App, was formally unveiled today during the Air Transport IT Summit industry conference, held in Barcelona, Spain.

Using a blend of blockchain-based data and facial recognition techniques, the app is aimed at both streamlining how airlines verify passenger identities as well as facilitating real-time data flows at the airport.

With the app, a passenger uploads their travel documents, which are then encrypted and hashed on the bitcoin blockchain. The system provides the passenger with what is called a "Single Travel Token", which can be presented to the airline in order to call up those documents using a public key. Any airline terminal connected to this system could then verify the identity of that passenger wherever they present this token.