Onfido Acquires Digital ID for Travel Pioneer Airside

“We plan to take Airside’s proven approach to the  airline industry and apply it to other sectors requiring high customer assurance, such as financial services — providing a single, trusted view of each customer’s identity.” – Mike Tuchen, CEO, Onfido

Onfido has acquired the digital identity for travel pioneer Airside.

Founded in 2009, the latter has been focused on innovation in digital identity technologies with a strong emphasis on privacy. Its flagship digital identity offering has now attained compliance with some stringent standards, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-63-3 rev 3 Class of Approval and FIDO2; and it has secured a place on the Kantara Initiative’s Trust Mark Status List.

The company really made a name for itself during the pandemic, when its digital identity app was approved by the Transportation Security Administration and embraced by American Airlines, which started letting its AAdvantage members enjoy expedited airport screening through the TSA PreCheck program in June of last year.

In announcing Onfido’s acquisition of Airside, the companies asserted that the latter’s app has now been used by over 10 million travelers.

Now, the companies will work together to combine the Airside Digital Identity App with Onfido’s Real Identity Platform, which has identity verification capabilities based on document reading and biometric technologies, as well as trusted data sources and scanning for fraud signals. Their aim is to extend the functionality of their digital ID well beyond airport screening, enabling its use for identity verification at Onfido’s network of more than 900 business partners.

This will enable travelers to present the mobile credential as their sole form of ID not only when passing through airport security, but also when proceeding to pick up a car rental or check into a hotel. Later on, this could even lead to using the digital ID to open a trading account, apply for a mortgage, or even cast a ballot in an election.

Onfido CEO Mike Tuchen says the companies will ultimately be “providing a single, trusted view of each customer’s identity.”

The acquisition could ultimately mark a dramatic expansion of Onfido’s business, coming after the company’s identity verification and authentication platform was integrated into the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud a few weeks ago. Onfido says the acquisition has closed and that its resulting products are expected to become commercially available later this year.

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May 23, 2023 – by Alex Perala