# SITA Maps Technology Enabling 10 Billion Passengers > Source: > Published: 2026-07-07 10:12:52+00:00 SITA's Impact Report 2025, released **July 6, 2026**, projects the air transport industry will carry around 8 billion passengers within 20-25 years and near 10 billion by **2050**, citing IATA data, achieved mainly by scaling software and AI rather than building new airports. The report documents deployments already in production: Aruba cut arrival border processing to as little as **eight seconds** using digital travel credentials and biometrics, more than 271 million travelers received pre-arrival risk screening in 2025, and SITA OptiFlight processed **2.9 million** flights for 59 airlines, saving an estimated 127,732 tonnes of fuel. For AI/ML practitioners, the report is a concrete example of an industry moving latency-sensitive machine learning, digital-twin simulation, and biometric verification out of pilots and into live operational systems.