Imagine getting ready to go to the airport with nothing but your mobile phone. No print outs of vaccination certificates, passports, back up Visa information, ziploc bags separating your liquids or remembering to get your laptop out at security.

1. Long-haul no longer… Well, almost

Between the global push to cut carbon emissions and bio-fuel costs remaining high, start ups are reviving the supersonic dream that died with the Concorde over 20 years ago. No major speed increases in travel times have happened since the 1960s, but a company called Boom Supersonic is out to change that.

The company hopes to get Overture, the Mach 2.2 commercial airliner, in the air by 2026 – a move that will drastically change long haul travel. Designed to seat between 65 and 88 people, Overture will focus on 500 primarily transoceanic routes, allowing the aircraft to leverage its Mach-2.2 speeds – more than twice as fast as today’s subsonic commercial jets.

Should they succeed, a journey from New York to London would take just three hours and 15 minutes (from just over seven hours), while Los Angeles to Sydney would be cut down to eight and a half hours – currently 15 hours.

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2. Bye bye passports, hello paperless travel

Passports were invented after the First World War in 1920 when the League of Nations promoted the idea of a worldwide passport standard. They were also created to help manage the influx of immigrants and displaced people moving to other countries. Today, most passports are considered “electronic” thanks to an embedded chip, but you still need to carry one to cross borders.

The wheels are in motion to eradicate passports completely, all in good time. Finland is set to become the first country in the EU to let passengers travel paper-free as it’s gearing up to trial a mobile app with digital copies of travel documents.

The app would hold digital copies of travel documents instead of traditional paper passports. With this new technology, passengers would send information to border authorities before they even reach the counter. It’s uncertain whether the pilot will go ahead, but should it go through, the first volunteers are likely to be passengers travelling between Finland and Croatia in early 2023.

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3. Long queues at security and taking out your laptop

Current scanners use 2D technology which is why you need to take out your laptop. If the laptop is on the top of the bag, it’ll obstruct the view of anything else that’s kept inside. but now, airports are starting to deploy new 3D imaging scanners.

Similar to a CT scan for humans, not only will the technology allow for more accurate threat detection for explosives and dangerous items, in theory, the whole security process should speed up.

4. Your face will replace your boarding pass

It’s the thumbprint that lets you use Apple Pay for airports. Many airlines have been experimenting with smart gates that allow you to drop your bags, board, skip into the lounge and check in just with your face. Airlines including Japan Airlines, British Airways, JetBlue and Delta Air Lines are using biometrics at selected airports and on certain routes.

Just recently, Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, wants roughly half its 26 members to use biometrics technology by 2025, as passenger demand grows for contactless travel and less airport congestion after COVID-19. The idea is that passengers will enrol into the system only once, then they can use the service with any participating airline or airport.

This article originally appeared on escape.com.au. It has been reproduced here with permission.

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