LONDON, England (CNN) --Most business travellers want to see the use of biometric technology at airports, according to a survey from airline industry group IATA.
Various international airports have begun trialling biometric technology, where a technology can scan the retinal, iris, face or fingerprint to determine the accurate identity of an individual.
The technology is designed to make passports and other identification documents harder to forge, as well as speed up check-in procedures.
While the survey did not ask the respondents why they wanted to see biometric technology used more, IATA spokesman Grant Wilkinson said there were growing concerns with regard to security and delays at check-in.
"The main benefit would be an increased fast track system through check-in reducing the 'hassle factor' and increased level of security that would improve the safety of passengers," Wilkinson said.
Amsterdam's Schiphol has introduced iris scanning, while London's Heathrow, New York's JFK and Washington's Dulles airports have also considered the scheme.
Passengers register personal details first, then a picture is taken of their iris -- the coloured diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil -- and recorded on a card, which looks like credit card.
Once the checks are complete, passengers pass through gates inserting the iris scan card and looking into a scanner where their eye is compared with the information on the card.
The International Air Transport Association surveyed 1,013 corporate travellers about security, the role of low-cost carriers and video conferencing post 9/11.
The passengers were questioned before flying from Schiphol, Heathrow, Frankfurt and Singapore, and on average had made six long-haul flights in the previous 12 months.
The survey found:
• Eighty-one percent of respondents wanted to see advanced biometric technology at airports.
• Twenty-seven percent wanted to see air marshalls onboard.
• Thirty-four percent wanted to see reinforced cockpit doors.
• One third of all business travellers have used a low cost airline in the past 12 months mainly for the cost benefit, with 37 percent using video conferencing to save travel time and money.
• E-mail and Internet access were both rated as important in-flight features and more than three out of five of all business travellers would be willing to pay a one-off supplement for Internet services.
E-mail and Internet access is not common amongst airlines, although a few airlines do offer it. Singapore Airlines has an inflight communicator that can handle SMS and short e-mail, and others are trialling a similar system. All major carriers have a laptop power supply.
"E-mail and Internet was a feature that was going to be introduced by most airlines this year, but due to economic circumstances these projects have been delayed," IATA said.
"This finding can influence airlines to push this more aggressively as it is a potential earner for the industry," Wilkinson told CNN.
The respondents were mainly European (43 percent), with 33 percent North American and 24 percent from the Asia/Pacific region.
IATA is the trade body for 280-member airlines which provide about 95 percent of international scheduled flights.
International air passenger traffic remains well below long-projected growth rates, airline industry sources told Reuters.
August figures from the global airports organisation, Airports Council International, showed that while passenger numbers were 3 percent down on the same month in 2001, cargo on both domestic and international flights was up by 5 percent.
Figures from IATA show a similar picture with passenger traffic 4.6 percent down in August 2002 against August 2001.
