How Public-Private Collaboration is Navigating the Future of Digital ID

By Jarek Sygitowicz | Co-Founder, Authologic

If you know anything about digital ID technology, you know that travel is a patently obvious use case. Every security check and border control station requires individual identification, and many of them use assorted types of biometric verification tech. 

There’s an opportunity here for a full embrace of eIDs within travel, but it hasn’t yet taken shape on an international level. The multi-state coordination we might expect within blocs like the Schengen Zone is underway, but not yet fully realized.

The private sector, on the other hand, has taken to digital ID technology with an admirable degree of enthusiasm. Airlines and travel platforms that started by making boarding passes compatible with mobile wallets are now developing fully digital passenger journeys that are both easy to use and genuinely secure.  

The private sector is actively building the foundations for a wallet-based future. Governments naturally take time to work through harmonizing policy and interoperability requirements. Although no country currently accepts digital passports for international travel, major mobile wallet providers like Apple and Google are betting that will change. Both are currently introducing technical infrastructure in support of digital travel credentials. With the technology broadly in place, cross-border cooperation needs to follow.

Passenger expectations and private sector innovation

Not only is the desire there among passengers, it’s all but expected. IATA’s 2025 Global Passenger Survey found that a significant majority of travelers want their smartphones to function as unified digital wallets. This would consolidate boarding passes, payment methods, loyalty credentials, and verified identity information.

Airlines, to their credit, are responding to these expectations quickly and creatively. Many have integrated robust digital ID capabilities directly into their apps. The German airline Lufthansa recently collaborated with Amadeus on a pilot program for a passenger wallet compliant with the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet framework. In trials, travelers used a verified mobile identity to check in online, drop bags, enroll biometrics, and board flights without repeatedly presenting physical documents.

By trialing a fully digital and wallet-based process across the passenger journey, Lufthansa treated digital identity as a potential breeding ground for customer experience innovation. That’s important, since identity verification has often been viewed by parts of the private sector as another compliance requirement, rather than an opportunity to differentiate. But even beyond customer experience, it’s still in airlines’ best interest to enthusiastically innovate here. Digital ID verification helps fight credit card fraud in ticket purchasing, better securing existing systems.

Curing the compliance doldrums

Outside of the airport, government-led initiatives are juggling multiple legal, security, and cross-border requirements. The EU’s EUDI Wallet is one such major regulatory effort that includes sandbox environments and pilot programs intended to support innovation rather than create additional barriers.

So far it’s a work in progress. Rollout has been uneven among EU members, a reflection of both the ambition of the EUDI Wallet and the complexity of implementing a common digital identity framework. Under the updated eIDAS Regulation, member states must make at least one compliant wallet available by the end of 2026. Corresponding private-sector acceptance requirements go into effect at the end of 2027. Until these timelines fully take effect, cross-border interoperability remains limited, with multilateral recognition still developing.

Physical passports thus remain mandatory for short-haul journeys. No crossing the English Channel without your physical passport, despite both Britain and France possessing mature digital infrastructure. Even within the Schengen Zone, non-EU nationals need to carry their physical passport along with their EU visa. Accepting a digital passport on journeys between, say, France and Spain would just be easier.

In other words, the technology exists, but mutual recognition does not, and this (hopefully temporary) disconnect is visible across the travel ecosystem. Years of discussion about digital passports have not yet translated into widespread changes to border control procedures, which remain reliant on physical documents. EU-level initiatives such as the proposed EU Digital Travel Application are advancing through the legislative process, but the system is still under development. Passengers of every stripe are thus left to navigate a mix of digital and analog interactions that often undermine the promised efficiency of modern travel.

A global travel experience upgrade—if you want it

There are plenty of cases in which compliance-heavy arenas have slowed private sector innovation, but airlines are the ones proving that digital identity can bolster both operations and passenger satisfaction. Well-designed in-app wallets reduce bottlenecks and strengthen security, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value service tasks. Travelers who already expect digital continuity get a more streamlined and intuitive experience that keeps them booking again and again. Lufthansa’s pilot in particular illustrated the value of a verified digital credential, and its ability to replace multiple friction-filled steps without compromising safety or compliance.

Absent coherent global standards, the risk of a fragmented landscape remains. Isolated solutions between individual countries and providers will perpetuate a patchwork of partially compatible systems. If only certain routes support fully digital identity while others still require manual inspection of paper documents, travelers will be faced with a needlessly confusing journey. They’ll likely end up bringing their paper documents to those fully supported routes just in case. That kind of inconsistency inevitably complicates operations and slows broader adoption.

That’s a worst case scenario. A better one begins with standards bodies and industry groups like ICAO and IATA prioritizing cross-regional alignment, thus driving common frameworks for digital travel credentials. Progress depends on close cooperation between regulators and travel providers, ensuring that policy and operational realities evolve together. Both sectors already recognize the value of seamless identity integration. Realizing it will require coordinated work toward shared goals.

As much as the airlines’ efforts are laudable and utilized by travelers, long-term progress and success depends on regulators and industry continuing to work together. Through this, digital wallets will evolve from optional conveniences into universally recognized credentials that simplify travel worldwide. The remaining challenge is to scale these breakthroughs into a harmonized, border-spanning reality. No single airline can do that, but considered public-private coordination will.

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