The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is conducting an evaluation of NFC on behalf of member airlines and aims to report back to members at its Passenger Services Conference event in October.

"The objective of IATA for this year on NFC is to identify all possible solutions to implement NFC (including SIM-based or phone-based solutions), assess which of the solutions would make better sense for our industry, evaluate feasibility of implementation and draft a business case," the association has told NFC World.

"Should the business case be sound, IATA will also identify needs for industry standards around the technology (like how and where should be stored the token, for example). We are aiming at completing this evaluation phase in 2013 and propose any required standards to the next Passenger Services Conference in October."