SWISS to use AI to count passengers
The AI trial will be in use on selected flights between April and June
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) plans a three-month trial to use artificial intelligence to conduct its passenger count during the flight boarding process. The new procedure should both enhance security and simultaneously ease the workload of the airline’s cabin personnel. On selected SWISS flights from Zurich, between April and June, a camera will be temporarily installed in the aircraft door area to record passengers as they embark.
The recordings will only be used to train the AI application, which must be able to distinguish when a passenger is carrying an infant in their arms as well as function faultlessly even in challenging lighting conditions.
The cabin crew will also conduct a parallel passenger count using the established manual procedure on the flights concerned, ensuring the new approach is properly evaluated. Its performance will be constantly analyzed throughout the trial phase to steadily improve the AI’s reliability.
Data security and data protection assured
The airline will be putting a top emphasis on data security and data protection with the introduction of AI on some flights. All recordings — made and used solely for passenger count purposes — will be processed in full compliance with European (GDPR) and Swiss (FADP) data protection laws and will then be deleted. Passengers on the selected flights will be informed of the trial prior to boarding. The camera will not pick up audio and the passengers recorded will not be identified.
