What airline executives say about AI, biometrics and apps

The airline recently completed a series of public meetings during which some executives shared details about internal and consumer-facing technology investments. We’ve compiled reviews of what they’re doing with internal technology systems, artificial intelligence, biometrics, airline apps, inflight entertainment, and more.

air canada

Air Canada has shared several technology investments in recent months, most of them consumer-facing. Most recently, the company partnered with Hopper to add a “cancel for any reason” tool.

Michael Stewart Rousseau briefly outlined some of these investments in August:

“Our digital investments now extend across the entire customer experience. This includes increased use of technology, such as expanding our biometric facial recognition pilot program to allow customers to board aircraft and welcome guests into our lounges. We also continue to incorporate artificial intelligence Our business, most recently in our contact centers. We have begun refurbishing cabin interiors across our narrowbody fleet, upgrading WiFi and inflight entertainment offerings, and launching exclusive original programming such as Mattel and Apple TV+.”

british airways

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle shared some of the plans in a public call in late July.

These include migrating the data center to the cloud (expected to be completed next year), and redeveloping the BA.com and British Airways apps.

About the British Airways app:

• “We’ve built a team of about 200 technical developers, led by a guy named Mark Lock. Mark joins us from Tesco. Our aim is to launch what I call the ‘minimum viable Product Prototyping” and possibly piloting it on one of our short haul operations (possibly at Gatwick). But we will be looking to change the way retail merchandise is sold and move towards more basket functionality. Integrating dynamic pricing more effectively now.”

• “Also make sure the digital experience is very similar and gives you the same booking process and product experience, no matter what channel you book through, whether it’s BA.com, mobile web, mobile app, or using a contact centre.

• “We also want to integrate two very important components. One of them is ancillary products so that they can be used for upsells. Second, the loyalty of the currency ensures that it is easier to redeem during the booking process than it is now.”

hawaiian airlines

Shannon Okinaka, Hawaiian’s chief financial officer, shared during a conference call in late July:

• “As labor and other expenses increase, we are investing heavily in technology to modernize legacy systems to improve efficiency across the company. We are particularly focused on accessing data to enhance our analytical capabilities.”

• “We also made progress on many of the big initiatives we are addressing this year. During the second quarter, we achieved major milestones on two such initiatives: transitioning our reservations system to Amadeus’ Altea platform, and Insourcing important aspects of Airbus A330 maintenance. Altea will provide a stronger technology foundation to create new revenue-generating products and digital experiences for our guests.”

Ryanair

Ryanair launched an internal innovation program called Ryanair Labs in 2014.

Ryanair Chief Executive Edward Wilson made some comments on the progress of the plan in a conference call in late July, saying the plan is focused on automating much of the business as Ryanair plans to add 300 737 MAX jets and increase passenger numbers to 300 million over the next decade.

“I think our lab headcount will be closer to 1,000 people,” Wilson said.

Half of them are focused on developing ancillary revenue streams, and the other half on infrastructure and cybersecurity.

“The lab is developing various support systems for pilots, crew and engineers, such as eTechLog where you can pull out all the documentation on the plane, flight plan iPads for pilots, and devices for crews to communicate what happened during the day. thing,” Wilson said.

Part of that focus includes avoiding a fiasco similar to Southwest’s late last year, due in part to an outdated employee rescheduling system.

“If you have 150 (pilots and cabin crew) trying to contact a call center, you can never have that many people there, so you have to fix the problem before it happens,” he said.

The airline plans to use generative artificial intelligence to automate some call center operations, he added.

Ryanair has yet to respond to Skift’s queries about the generative artificial intelligence initiative announced in June with AWS.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr shared an overview of key consumer-related tech investments:

• “We are constantly enhancing our innovative solutions, whether it is additional biometric boarding gates, more efficient and faster security checks, and of course new lounges. With the Lufthansa Digital Hangar, we have accelerated our digitization process, and offer digital services to customers. For example, we have re-launched the new Lufthansa app within the Group’s digital applications. More than 1.5 million active users per week benefit from services regarding flights, baggage, waiting times or rebooking real-time information.”

• “Nearly 150,000 customers have independently managed rebookings in the past 3 months and 81% of our customers are currently using our digital check-in option. Over 80% of our refunds have been fully or partially automated. Additionally, we found that using our travel ID The number of customers getting a more personalized experience grew double-digits year-over-year.”

Delta Airlines

Allison Ausband, chief customer experience officer at Delta Air Lines, shared some insights on improving technology for travelers in late June:

• “Our next frontier is personalization. Of the 200 million customers we see every year, 50 million of them are unique. So the better we understand them and what they like and don’t like, the better we can serve them.” Experience.”

• “Technology is critical for us when you think about enhancing the experience. Digital identity, the question about frictionless travel, especially when you’re going through an airport. New biometrics around digital identity: customers don’t have to take out anything You can get through TSA and finally board a plane. As we think about the next frontier of personalization, free WiFi is a huge opportunity for us.”

united airlines

United Airlines President Brett Hart made a brief statement about the app’s features designed to help passengers whose flights have been canceled:

“Recently, we announced new mobile app capabilities to support our customers during travel disruptions. These first-of-its-kind tools will allow customers to rebook, track luggage and access dining and hotel accommodations on eligible personal devices. coupon.”

qantas airlines

Qantas chief customer officer Markus Svensson shared the airline’s plans to invest in technology as it plans to add new aircraft.

• “Digitalizing our operations and enhancing our planning systems will support rapid integration of plans, minimize inefficiencies, and enhanced and faster operational decision-making. Our digital operations strategy will introduce artificial intelligence and machines across multiple time horizons Learning and other data and tools to enable complex optimization of our workforce and asset deployment, and learn rapidly from actual performance to refine planning models and drive further continuous improvement.”

• “We’re also investing in entertainment streaming. We know this plane is going to be flying longer, for example to Bali. So offering premium entertainment streaming is a key part of that. This entertainment or streaming capability also allows us to Develop new digital services, such as food and beverage services.”