ST's secure MCUs enable travel and purchasing ecosystem with Airline Loyalty card

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: Powerful, flexible secure microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics are helping airline loyalty cards grow into their own ecosystems. Using a secure microcontroller chipset from ST, Qantas, the Australian flag carrier, has deployed its latest loyalty card for passenger and baggage airport check-in as well as for multi-currency cash transactions, which Qantas calls "travel money."

ST has been the card and tag partner for Qantas since 2010 when the airline pioneered a next-generation loyalty card combining contactless check-in and automatic baggage drop linked to RFID tags. The addition of a cash-card function late last year has created a powerful ecosystem of travel and purchasing capabilities in a card.

The ecosystem, which addresses objectives for "Simplifying the Airline Business" defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), also includes a partner function targeted to enable airline industry partners to offer more services and features to their combined membership base in the future.

The Qantas Cash-Card is highly flexible as a travel tool, boasting 9 virtual wallets ideally suited to accommodating as many as 9 different currencies for a multi-country trip. Converting and transferring funds among the 9 currencies can be done instantly.

The card uses a unique two sub-system design to ensure the security of the user's data and currency: the EMV (EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa) runs the cash-card function and the LOYALTY kernel controls the check-in and partner functions. The approach required an enhanced EMV-level certification to ensure and confirm that the card applet maintained card security and EMV operation.