IoT Capabilities in Regaining Travelers’ Confidence Through Touchless Travel: An Empirical Study for the Revival of the Airline Sector

In the past few years, the airline and travel industries have suffered unprecedented crisis during COVID-19 pandemic. With the gradual reopening of economies, airline companies are progressively bouncing back to normalcy. While airline traffic has come back to normalcy, travelers still continue to remain cautious about their health, hygiene and safety. In this regard, we examine the applicability of Internet of Things (IoT) enabled digital technologies in reassuring airline travelers’ confidence by offering benefits, such as contactless travel, health monitoring of onboard travelers, crowd management at the airport, air quality, and hygiene management inside the airport. The study sheds light on emerging travelers’ preference for air travel post-COVID-19. This article prioritizes the IoT-based application areas assessed through the theoretical lens of the theory of planned behavior. Our research highlights the underlying inter-relationships among the digital enablers that can be implemented for the airline industry, focusing on travelers’ hygiene and safety priorities. The study is conducted in the international airports operating in India. By improving travelers’ confidence, this study will help travel and airline industries to revive from the postpandemic loss by using the capabilities of IoT technologies.