CUSS 2.0: What You Need to Know
Introduction
With air travel due to an increase of 4.3% from 2024 to 2042, the ability to develop and build facilities to cater to this increased demand is both costly and time-consuming. Airports and airlines look to boost and improve passenger processing and experience. Making the best use of space available and providing the passengers with control over elements of their journey is key.
To support this expansion in traffic volumes, one key component to support the operation is Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks. CUSS Kiosk provides a shared environment that enables multiple participating airlines to offer passenger services such as check-in, baggage drop and ancillary sales, putting the passenger in control. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) provides guidelines, standards and regulations for the industry representing the airlines while Airports Council International (ACI) provide the same approach for airports. Both organisations are key to driving the industry forward and adopting best practices and innovation.
IATA has worked with airports, airlines, solution providers and ACI to develop the latest CUSS Standards, Recommended Practice 1706c, also known as Common Use Self Service (CUSS) and Common Use Self Service (CUSS) Technical Specification. This defines the requirements, standards and guidelines for a self-service kiosk platform that can be shared by multiple airlines and the airline applications deployed.
The new CUSS 2.0 specifications and standards enable airports, airlines, and ground handling agents to remove old legacy technology, improve security and operations and, thereby, enhance passenger processing while optimising the use of the latest technologies.
The timeline for the removal of the legacy standards and the adoption of the new standards is Jan 1st 2026.
In this article, we’ll look at its various constituent parts and consider the benefits of CUSS 2.0 implementation.
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Why is CUSS 2.0 Necessary?
During the COVID-19 Pandemic time, Version 1.5.1 of the CUSS Technical Specifications was updated and released to accommodate contactless solutions. In addition, an addendum to CUSS version 1.5.1 was made available, providing a standard interface to support biometric requirements on the CUSS platform enabling airlines to adopt a more touchless, seamless experience if deemed necessary. CUSS 1.5.1, however, brought its challenges and issues.
- CUSS 1.5.1 was reliant on several legacy technologies, such as CORBA and mandated tooling (plugins), and Java dependencies.
- Existing browsers supported by the standards imposed some limiting restrictions.
- With the specifications and technology current under version 1.5.1, Common Use Self-Service deployments did not fully support nor comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) requirements.
All these inhibiting factors contribute to a lengthy release cycle and time to market for both CUSS platform providers and Airline application developers. Moreover, the majority of technologies that utilise CUSS 1.x have either already reached their end of life, are set to be deprecated within the next few years, are no longer maintained, or have shifted to an unfavourable licensing model.
There was a recognised need for a new CUSS standard that could remove restrictions on browser technology, avoiding browser and JAVA dependencies, while introducing and mandating safe communication protocols through Security by Design. The CUSS Technical Solutions Group (CUSS TSG) has developed CUSS version 2.0 in response to these needs.
General Benefits of CUSS
The idea behind Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) is to facilitate the provision of passenger services by airlines through a shared kiosk. Using a standardised approach to CUSS deployment, airports and airlines are able to enhance efficiency by increasing throughput and maximising the existing footprint of the airport. The adoption of CUSS kiosks reduces some of the need to implement expensive and time-consuming structural building works. Ultimately, this will benefit airlines by providing additional passenger processing services, while for the airport it improves the overall operating capacity.
CUSS delivers several benefits. There’s no need to segregate areas by the airline, enabling the airport to adopt a traditional common-use approach with inherent flexibility, and reducing the amount of operational space that the airport needs to dedicate to individual airlines. CUSS also permits airlines to deliver an airline-tailored check-in product and experience, with full integration into their Departure Control System. Although there are numerous operational financial models, CUSS enables the sharing of operational costs between participating stakeholders, so airlines do not need to undertake capital expenditure to deploy their CUSS passenger processing. Many times the airports will include the provision of the CUSS environment within the Passenger Service Charge, thereby enabling the airline to utilise the kiosks through an OPEX model. The airlines do not have to take on the responsibility to invest, purchase, deploy, and support their kiosks, which incurs additional charges over the common-use approach.
Specific Advantages of CUSS 2.0
CUSS 2.0 adheres to the “Security by Design” principles and supports Secure Technologies. CUSS 2.0 does not fundamentally change what the Common Use applications are designed for; enabling an airline to provide the facilities for their passengers to check in and perform other functions according to their business processes through an airline-branded approach. CUSS 2.0 does not change this capability but rather enhances the Security, operations and passenger experience with the removal of the inherent challenges with legacy CUSS 1.x. CUSS 2.0 uses modern technologies, proven methodologies and operational processes with simplified specifications and documentation.
With “Security by Design” as a core concept, and support for Secure Technologies, CUSS 2.0 facilitates compliance with industry and regulatory standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The use of current supportable technologies allows CUSS 2.0 implementations to comply with all current payment, privacy and security standards and regulations more easily.
CUSS 2.0 expands the horizon through mobile application support and integration of Handheld Devices. This enables the contactless transaction requirements of the post-COVID era and supports a range of portable electronic devices such as tablets and mobile phones. By leveraging the latest technologies, CUSS 2.0 enables enhanced integration at multiple touchpoints, and streamlines Application and Platform updates, while mitigating cybersecurity risks.
Timeline for CUSS 2.0
The IATA Passenger Standards Conference (PSC) has endorsed a timeline for rolling out the CUSS 2.0 standard which features the following key dates:
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31 March 2023 – Release of the CUSS 2.0 Technical Specification
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1 January 2024 – Commencement of the CUSS 2.0 Transition Phase
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1 January 2026 – Discontinuation of CUSS 1.x platforms
To facilitate the rollout, IATA is promoting active engagement with all stakeholders, and providing guidance through workshops, implementation, and development guides. In a collaborative industry effort, IATA is also providing Informational Resources such as a Knowledge Base and an Interactive Airport Readiness Map.
For further IATA resources please follow the following links
https://www.iata.org/en/programs/passenger/common-use/
https://www.iata.org/contentassets/1dccc9ed041b4f3bbdcf8ee8682e75c4/cuss_2_0_factsheet-20240117.pdf
About Vision-Box CUSS 2.0
Vision-Box is a multinational technology company headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, dedicated to improving the quality, convenience, efficiency and security in government services, travel, border control and all smart facilities. It does this through the superior design, development and implementation of integrated, user-centric, digital identity management solutions and passenger processing solutions with services built upon trusted biometric tokens where appropriate.
The Vision-Box Passenger Processing offering relies on the CUSS 2.0 Platform and its integration with the Seamless Kiosk®, whether using the Vision-Box CUSS 2.0 SDK (Software Development Kit) or supporting airlines developing their own CUSS 2.0 Application.
The Vision-Box CUSS 2.0 SDK brings together a group of tools that enable the programming of CUSS 2.0-compliant applications. Vision-Box CUSS 2.0 Solution provides backward compatibility. This enables airlines to operate a legacy CUSS 1.x application on a CUSS 2.0 Platform, and CUSS 2.0 applications on a CUSS1.x platform and native CUSS 2.0 applications on a CUSS 2.0 platform.
Rather than being restricted by the slowest mover, our approach enables the airlines and airports to start realising the benefits of their investment and enabling a single support model for the kiosks as they migrate. Airports do not have to run a split environment during this transition phase. The ability to operate all approaches enables the airports and airlines to plan a robust migration strategy and not have to attempt a big-bang approach to the move.
Applications developed with CUSS 2.0 SDK can be natively used on the Vision-Box Biometric CUSS 2.0 Platform, or at any other vendor that is using the new CUSS 2.0 standard. The Vision-Box CUSS 2.0 SDK helps in-house software developers to write CUSS 2.0 compliant applications faster, by using the technologies they are familiar with -- thereby reducing the cost of building and maintaining CUSS applications. If airlines choose to purchase their kiosks, Vision-Box solution can enable them to operate a single version of their application, a proprietary kiosk or a CUSS kiosk. The solution is designed to rationalise the applications while enabling the airline to control functionality across the environments as they require.
For more information about CUSS 2.0 contact us today!
