Research on Risk-based Passenger Differentiation Techniques Applied to Aviation Security Screening

With the WHO declaring that the COVID-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the civil aviation industry is poised for a retaliatory rebound in the volume of air passenger numbers. In order to ease the pressure of airport security screening, advanced technologies have been applied in many airports. However, most of these technologies focus on the prohibited items that passengers carry rather than the passengers who carry these items. The optimized utilization of advanced technologies requires risk-based passenger differentiation. This approach includes development of a risk score through behavior-based and data-based differentiation, assignment of the risk score to an individual passenger and incorporation of the score into the security screening process. As most of these techniques are carried out behind-the-scenes, or in a covert and stand-off way, security is enhanced without compromising most passengers’ seamless travel through the airport, and therefore achieve the balance between facilitation and security.