It's 2100. Autonomous pods take you from home to the terminal and beyond, and biometrics allow smooth access to net-zero airports and aircraft.
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00:00 Imagine it's the year 2100 and you are traveling to the airport.
00:04 These autonomous pods will take you, your luggage, and even your office or summer cottage straight to the terminal.
00:10 They will then hang onto a flying crown to fly to your destination.
00:13 For longer distances, the pods are put into special aircraft to save energy.
00:18 The idea was conceived by a Slovenian architect who won an international competition for future airport design.
00:24 We have to envision first the whole mobility of the future and what is happening in terms of micro-mobility and macro-mobility in terms of the whole global context.
00:35 And this is where I've started to strip down what it is actually to move and what it is actually to be transported.
00:46 How to get from really not even micro but maybe nano scale of moving around the city, moving from city to city and moving from country to country.
00:57 This design is not only feasible but it's actually also necessary.
01:02 And on one hand, the future is exactly as we will predict it.
01:08 So we have to predict it smart, we have to predict it green, and we have to predict it as how we would like.
01:15 Some of the design features may not be too far from reality.
01:19 So there are many aspects that could be done.
01:22 While you travel to the airport in a safe environment, you can have your biometrics sent to the airport and whilst you arrive there, everybody knows who you are.
01:31 For example, if that car or a computer or an app will allow you to send a passport, everything, to get your passport validated.
01:39 You will not go through outbound immigration anymore. So you could be already trusted to passenger.
01:45 According to the International Air Transport Association's 2022 Global Passenger Survey, passengers want to get through the airport as quickly as possible.
01:55 88% of passengers are satisfied with their overall biometric process, while 75% of them are eager to use biometrics instead of passports or boarding passes.
02:04 Experts say the technology for airports to be like this is already available.
02:09 In South Korea, Incheon Airport has in July 2023 implemented a facial recognition system for passengers, letting them skip the process of scanning boarding passes and passports.
02:20 However, legislation for the development and implementation of these future technologies often stops them from becoming a reality.
02:28 I find it easier to implement in a more technology-friendly zone like Asia or the Middle East.
02:37 They try to do things differently because they have a tendency of building in advance, being proactive and implementing these things.
02:47 Where more traditional economies like Western Europe or North America, they go a little bit reactive.
02:55 As well as being designed to be easier to access, there is a growing trend for future airports and travel options to be sustainable.
03:01 In Europe, 200 airports in 45 countries have pledged all be fossil-free by 2050.
03:06 10 airports in Sweden have already achieved carbon neutrality, becoming in 2020 the first country among them to hit net zero, cutting more than 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
03:17 We have like every kind of machine and tools or vehicles that are common in the society.
03:23 So if we can become zero emitter, everyone can.
03:28 It's not so difficult and it's not so expensive either.
03:32 Airport operators with Davia is now aiming at making all domestic flights fossil-free by 2030 and all flights in Sweden by 2045.
03:40 A project for developing and testing on all electric 30-seat aircraft at Malmö Airport has been launched in summer 2023.
03:47 Electric aircraft are one of the options being considered, with Sweden also actively exploring the potential of hydrogen aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel.
03:56 If you take into account that everything of good things are in place, I think aviation or flying will be the most sustainable way to travel in the future.
04:07 Because you don't really need so much infrastructure.
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