Emirates are changing up the check-in process, moving it “close to you” to streamline the airport experience for their passengers. With a new CityCheck-in and Travel Store, customers can now visit the store located in ICD Brookfield Place in DIFC, Dubai’s busy finance hub. Here, passengers can drop their bags between 4 and 24 hours prior to the flight, facilitating a hassle-free trip to the airport.
Rob Devereux, CEO of ICD Brookfield explained:
“The exciting new addition will bring the convenience of city check-in to the central business district, allowing Emirates passengers more time to go about their daily routine, spend productive time at work and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle Dubai has to offer.”
Once at the conveniently located store, passengers can select their check-in method from three options: check-in agent, self check-in kiosk, or world first robot check-in assistant – Sara.
Sara, Emirates’ “innovative portable robotic check-in system” will roam around the store looking to help passengers. The robot can match faces with scanned passports, check passengers in, print boarding passes, offer the option to purchase extra items, and guide them to the luggage drop area. On top of this, Sara’s 2.5 metre LCD screen shows the latest destination content from Emirates and an interactive touchscreen map.
Source: Emirates. Product – Emirates City Check In & Travel Store – Self Check In options
Adel al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer said:
“Emirates City Check In is our latest addition to the Emirates travel experience, showing our commitment to providing customers with an array of check-in options. Our new location is the first ultra-convenient check in and baggage drop facility conveniently located in the DIFC area. People can avoid busy periods at the airport and minimise queuing.”
Fifty years on, how different will travel really be? easyJet 2070: The future of travel report
easyJet 2070: The future of travel report outlines a set of predictions for what travel might look fifty years from now. Many of the ideas like space-based holidays to the moon and 3D-printed hotel breakfast buffets still feel a long way off. Others, despite sounding futuristic, described technologies that are already in their early stages of implementation.
The report was created by a panel of experts comprised of academics, futurologists, and business advisors. Together, they began to “develop ideas and make predictions about how travel might look in fifty years’ time, from choosing and booking your holiday to how the airport and flight experience may be transformed, and also looking at the accommodation people might stay in and the activities they could enjoy from travel in the 2070s.”
Here are some travel experiences listed in the report that we can already see in their infancy today.
‘Try before you buy’ holiday destinations
“Just as you try on clothes in a store today, or listen to music samples online before you decide to buy, customers will be able to explore and try out holiday destinations in the online metaverse before making a purchase” says Professor Birgitte Andersen, the CEO of Big Innovation Centre. Stakeholders in the aviation industry are already exploring the metaverse’s potential for the sector. From encouraging passengers to virtually tour the airport and cabin interiors to “visualis[ing] their real-world journey.” Although the metaverse is still in its early stages, there are many examples of companies actively engaging with the possibilities of virtual reality.
An entirely paperless, seamless journey
“By 2070, all ticketing and identity documentation will be digital.” Requiring solely your biometric data to get your through the airport, there will be no queues or ever barriers. According to BioFuturist Dr Melissa Sterry, “as you walk into the airport, facial recognition software will have noted your arrival, identified you, matched you with your booked flight and sent messages to your personal devices like a phone or smart watch to direct you onwards.” Biometric technology is not new to the industry and is already used by airports and airlines to streamline the passenger journey. Additionally, transatlantic Digital Travel Credential (DTC) pilots are running with a view to speeding up the passenger journey. Although the 2070 vision of entirely removing conventional touchpoints is a way off, the groundwork for this vision has already been laid with advancements in biometrics and identity technology.
Green transport to the airport and at your destination
“You might even travel to the airport via e-VTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts) air taxis that whisk you from home to the airport.” And, once at your destination “you won’t need to worry about navigating local transport networks or car hire while on holiday […] there will be no need to have a driving licence: rental cars or e-VTOLs will be fully autonomous electric vehicles taking you wherever you want to go, dropping you at your destination without any worries over how to get there or where to park.” Airlines have been investing heavily in e-VTOLs with United Airlines and Archer Aviation already announcing the plans for their first commercial electric air taxi route. Once this is ready, it will offer passengers a “safe, sustainable, low noise, and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation” to the airport, avoid traffic and reduce pollution.
Zero-emission aircraft
“By 2070 passengers will have been travelling on zero emission aircraft for a number of years.” The aviation industry has been pushing to reduce its negative impact on the climate achieving key milestones in recent times. At the start of the year, ZeroAvia successfully tested the world’s largest plane to be powered by a hydrogen-electric engine, a considerable step towards zero-emission commercial flights. In the pursuit of mediating environmental damage, many partnerships have formed including easyJet and Rolls-Royce who achieved a world first for sustainable aviation, successfully running an aircraft engine on green hydrogen.
Some aspects of the journey sound like a distant future. For these, the report encourages readers to cast minds back to the year 1973, “smartphones were a thing of wildest dreams, ‘Google’ would have seemed like a made-up word, and laptops were still almost a decade away from being invented.” However, perhaps even more strikingly, we are already engaging with the technology that underpins some of the most futuristic experiences predicted by the report.
As the industry pushes to improve the passenger journey, we will see how continued engagement with these technologies translates into the passenger experience of the future.
Mike Szücs, CEO Cebu Pacific Air – Keynote interview, “We are the world’s most complex LCC I would suspect”
This 15-minute keynote interview with Mike Szücs, CEO Cebu Pacific Air looked at “How Cebu plans to further expand its international network whilst driving a stronger ancillary business.”
Throughout the interview, the airline’s business model was evaluated with Szücs explaining the paradox between being one of “the world’s most complex LCCs” and the airline’s “fundamental mission to keep things simple.” Unpacking this, Szücs explored the geographic and infrastructure factors which have shaped the airline into its current form.
Looking at how the airline has navigated the post-pandemic landscape, the conversation compared changes in domestic and international markets as well as booking trends. Cebu’s CEO also described the ways they used incentives to attract back domestic demand and encourage the extension of the booking curve. The discussion was supplemented with discussion surrounding aircraft types, routes, opportunities for revenue improvements, the importance of becoming a leader in the digital space, and more.
Interview with Isaiah W. Cox, President/CEO WheelTug – The automation of ground ops
This 15-minute interview with Isaiah W. Cox, President/CEO WheelTug explores the automation of ground ops. The conversation touches on sustainability, efficiency, and safety in ground operations.
WheelTug is the industry leader in the emerging e-taxi market. The WheelTug e-taxi system is a nosewheel-mounted motor and drive powered by the aircraft’s APU that allows aircraft to taxi and to manoeuvre at the gate without using their main engines.
During the interview, the CEO discussed the growth possibilities of automation, the wide ranging benefits of optimisation, sustainability factors and more.
The AI-powered operations optimising technology at DOH and DIA
Working in partnership with Aeroficial Intelligence, MATAR, the Qatar Company for Airports Operation and Management is enhancing airport operations with a new AI-powered tool providing operational intelligence.
MATAR Senior Vice President Operations, Mr. Ioannis Metsovitis predicts this technology will:
“enhance automation, predictability, awareness, and performance.”
Aerofficial Intelligence specialises in empowering airport and air traffic management, and their partnership with MATAR has been described by Metsovitis as a “testament to MATAR’s commitment to investing in technological advancements to maintain its operational excellence.”
Aerofficial Intelligence’s technology is used across all airport operations at Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Doha International Airport (DIA). The software monitors the operations of both airports in real-time, looking at ground movements, runway activity, the taxiway, air traffic situations, and more. Using in-depth analysis and reporting, daily operations will be optimised, “sav[ing] emissions, increas[ing] efficiency and generating[ing] new and better insights.”
DOH is set to increase capacity to over 70 million per year with their expansion project that began at the start of this year. As the airport grows, the optimisation of operations will be crucial to ensure smooth and efficient processes at the DOH.
Proposed legislation in Canada may shift the onus of service disruption onto airlines, “I feel that these new rules are the toughest in the world.”
Canada’s transport minister has proposed an overhaul of air passenger rights rules. Notably, the legislation would see airlines having to compensate passengers for major service disruptions except in limited cases including snowstorms. Additionally, the changes would see an increase in fines for airlines that fail to comply with Canadian Transportation Agency rules.
The measure comes as a response to rising passenger complaints against airlines after a bumpy return to travel. Reportedly, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has a backlog of over 44,000 complaints, the highest on record.
Reuters shared Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra’s words on the matter:
“This means there will be no more loopholes where airlines can claim a disruption is caused by something outside of their control or a security reason when it is not […] It will no longer be the passenger who will have to prove that he or she is entitled to compensation. It will now be the airline that will need to prove that it does not have to pay for it.”
The proposed legislation has been a point of controversy since it was announced earlier this week. Defending the changes in an interview on CBC, Alghabra highlighted:
“Airlines will tell you that they feel these regulations are tough. [They] are shifting the burden onto airlines […] I feel that these new rules, as I said, are the toughest in the world. And I know airlines, like any smart business, will take these rules, ensure that their operations are better, and that they provide the service that they sold to customers.”
Any changes would start to come into force by the end of summer, with others expected by the end of the year.
Commercial leaders panel – Changing behaviours and adapting RM, retailing, loyalty, and network planning strategies to keep up
At Aviation Festival Asia, the commercial leaders panel looked at how passenger behaviours have changed since the pandemic and the ways airline commercial leaders can adapt their RM, retailing, loyalty, and network planning strategies to keep up.
During the conversation, the panellists reflected on the airline industry and its relationship with technology. Looking at overcoming the constraints of legacy tech, re-evaluating during the pandemic, and more the panellists broadly agreed with Aboudy Nasser’s assessment (CCO, Oman Air) that “technology is an enabler, it’s people that make the change.” The theme of technology underpinned the entire session which looked at a variety of topics including the booking preferences of millennials, artificial intelligence (AI), data, ancillaries, fare matching, NDC, and more.
Focusing in on data, this panel discussed the key question: what do we do with it? One answer explored hyper personalisation, using technology like chatGPT to present a relevant bundle thereby showing care to the individual at a scale that is otherwise difficult to achieve. Another theme of conversation turned to AI, looking at its role in forecasting demand and a transition towards decisions being taken, not just guided by AI.
The session concluded with panellists stating their predictions rooted in any point of discussion during the session. To find out what these commercial leaders answered, watch the full session below:
Participants include:
Paul Carroll, Chief Revenue and Network Officer, AirAsia
Aboudy Nasser, CCO, Oman Air
Arved von Zur Muehlen, CCO, Saudia
Shimi Avizmil, Co-Founder and CTO, Fetcherr
Jonathan Newman, Senior Principal, Accelya
Moderated by Otto Gergye, Advisor to the CEO, Thai Airways
The French Ministry of Ecological Transition has validated plans for construction of a 14-hectare solar power plant at Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS). The facility will cover 5,800 parking spaces at the airport making it one of the largest shaded power plants in the country.
VINCI Airports President Nicolas Notebaert said:
“Airports are places of opportunity for photovoltaic production, which is why Vinci Airports has been committed to developing solar power plants for several years now. This allows us to decarbonize our own consumption, but also to contribute to the energy transition of [local communities] by injecting the electricity we produce into the [local] network.”
Once completed, the power plant is anticipated to produce 24 gigawatt hours (GWh) of green electricity annually which will be “injected into the grid to supply the neighbouring communities.” This is equivalent to the consumption of 9,000 people and is estimated to avoid the emission of nearly 1,600 tons of CO2 each year.
According to the press release, this project is part of VINCI Airports’ wider ambition to produce renewable energy at its airports. VINCI Airports has a capacity of more than 40 MWp with solar plants in operation at its airports in the UK, Portugal, Brazil or the Dominican Republic and aims to exploit a potential exceeding 1 GWp.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour CCO Swiss International Airlines – Generative AI, modern airline retailing, and NDC
New distribution capability (NDC) and the the modernisation of airline distribution has been heavily discussed with recent developments in the landscape. This 10-minute interview with Tamur Goudarzi Pour, the Swiss International Airlines CCO covers multiple dimensions of modern airline retailing, including but not limited to, NDC penetration, offers and orders, and generative AI.
The first half of the conversation is focused around a broader discussion of airline retail strategy, looking at the Lufthansa Group’s ambitions, exploring NDC penetration on the corporate side, and addressing IATA’s involvement with offers and orders. The second half hones in on the use of technology from payments and generative AI, to the continued momentum towards digitalisation.
To learn more, Tamur will be speaking in person at this year’s World Aviation Festival taking place in Lisbon from 26-28th September.
Questions asked:
How would you define modern airline retailing? What are you doing at Lufthansa Group to expand this?
How do we get more NDC penetration on the corporate side?
What’s the next phase for Lufthansa’s pioneering distribution strategy?
Could you tell me about the development of offers and orders consortium that IATA formed?
As payments become more intertwined, how do you foresee FinTech playing a part in modern airline retailing?
What do you think of the potential of technology like generative AI within airline retailing?
Keynote CEO panel – What is the future of the Asian aviation industry?
At Aviation Festival Asia, the keynote CEO panel gathered to discuss, “What is the future of the Asian aviation industry as we come out of the pandemic and how will further digital technology adoption, sustainability, collaboration and new business models help shape the outlook for 2023 and beyond?” Panellists included Tony Fernandes, CEO Capital A, Chai Eamsiri, CEO Thai Airways, and David Emerson CCO, Virgin Australia.
The session covered the developments of the last few years, business models, pricing, sustainability and more. Briefly contextualising the pandemic with the panellists’ low points and lessons, the conversation focused predominantly on its aftermath. Here, Eamsiri, Fernandes, and Emerson offered diverging perspectives on the prevalence of post-pandemic uncertainty and how this continues to translate into customer behaviours and booking patterns. Delving deeper into the pandemic, the panellists also gave their predictions on how long “revenge travel” will last and identified shifts in demand from various customer segments.
Towards the end, sustainability was explored, looking at the demands it places on various stakeholders and examining customer sentiment towards the problem. During this, a variety of approaches to the topic of sustainability were offered and evaluated.
Watch the full session to hear from these industry leaders on the emerging landscape, sustainability, business models, pricing, markets, and more.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than one billion people live with some form of disability, constituting approximately 15 per cent of the world’s population. Often air travel can be difficult for passengers with disabilities, especially when navigating an unfamiliar space.
Cranfield University and Regional & City Airports (RCA) are working to improve the airport experience for passengers with a range of disabilities by launching a pioneering 360-degree video experience. This is designed to help passengers with additional requirements prepare for their visits to the airport.
Dr Thomas Budd, Senior Lecturer in Airport Planning and Management at Cranfield University explained some of the ways this technology could help passengers:
“This can include estimating walking distances, as well as understanding the location and availability of seating areas or other facilities within the airport. For passengers with sensory related conditions, the tour also provides an indication of the visual and acoustic environment passengers can expect inside the airport.”
The pilot will launch at Bournemouth Airport, offering passengers the chance to orientate themselves within the airport space from the comfort of home. It will also include a narrated tour from the point of arrival, through check-in, to security, and the boarding gate.
Free of charge, the service seeks to make airports more accessible to all passengers.
For more on accessibility technology in airports see:
Yesterday, Air Canada announced the launch of its New Distribution Capabilities (NDC) program. The program will offer a “competitive alternative to legacy distribution” and the airline is incentivising the transition away from legacy GDS bookings.
Mark Nasr, Senior Vice President of Products, Marketing and E-commerce for Air Canada explained the core reason behind the new program:
“Here’s the fundamental bottom line: We are already too far in terms of the gap between the capabilities that agencies have today, and the capabilities we want travel agencies to have. And that gap is only going to grow in the future much more substantially if we don’t do something about it now, because we are at the tipping point of a series of new methodologies in revenue management and pricing.”
According to the press release, the airline will offer four options for NDC access, each designed for a different agency business model and give agents access to Air Canada inventory, fares, ancillary services, ticketing, and digital products. Initially, the additional content will include domestic Basic fares and from 14 June the best available seat inventory and discounted ancillary pricing will be introduced. Further additions this summer include Flight Pass reservation and access to Air Canada’s continuous pricing.
As part of the airline’s shift towards direct or NDC bookings, Air Canada will be adding a per-ticket fee of $20-30 on bookings made through traditional EDIFACT channels from 14 June. The airline attributed this Distribution Cost Recovery (DCR) to addressing the “high expense” of legacy models. Furthermore, from 14 June, an NDC coupon incentive will be introduced to support agency transition. This will be applicable to NDC bookings made directly with an Air Canada NDC API connection or via select NDC certified technology partner and will be initially available in Canada before the global rollout.
The distribution landscape is changing with airlines pushing to free themselves from the constraints of legacy technology and empowering agents with access to the range of content that was previously available only through direct channels. For more on the recent developments in NDC and airline retailing see American Airlines’ NDC transition and the distribution evolution.
Vienna Airport and Austrian Airlines offer home luggage pick up
As the industry approaches the busy summer period, airlines and airports are using technology to avoid bottlenecks across the customer journey. One way tech is helping to reduce friction at the airport is by shifting preparation off-site where possible. A popular example of this is online check-in which has streamlined the airport experience for travellers since 1999. Developing beyond this, an option to complete bag drop before the day of travel is now being integrated.
Vienna Airport and Austrian Airlines are working collaboratively with Airportr to streamline the airport experience, offering passengers the chance to hand over their baggage with home luggage pick up. This occurs at a desired location and time before departing for the airport and leaves the passenger bag free until their destination.
Julian Jäger, Joint CEO and COO of Vienna Airport described it as:
“An innovative service designed to enhance travel comfort […] Passengers can depart for their well-deserved vacations in an even more relaxed manner by having their luggage picked up from home and without having to wait at the check-in counters. We are further expanding service quality in Vienna just in time before the summer season.”
The option has been running since 12 April with the first 200 bookings free of charge. From May, the offer is set to expand and be permanently integrated into the service portfolio with costs begin at €26 depending on the number of pieces of luggage and the pick-up location.
Is this an option you would opt for before heading to the airport?
Chai Eamsiri, CEO Thai Airways – Keynote interview, “Bringing back confidence”
At Aviation Festival Asia, Chai Eamsiri CEO Thai Airways joined Bloomberg’s Danny Lee for a 15-minute keynote interview. The discussion was predominantly centred around the airline’s transition from survival to rehabilitation mode and beyond.
Moving past the intense survival mode necessitated by the pandemic, the Thai Airways CEO touched on the new processes and structures now in place to help the airline restore confidence.
Covering targets and priorities, China’s reopening, and Bangkok, the interview sheds light on the next steps for Thai Airways.
Alaska Airlines removes kiosks to create a seamless airport experience
Alaska Airlines has set a target to get passengers through the lobby and to security in five minutes or less. How will this be achieved? Through leveraging the power of mobile tech. The airline explained “much like mobile technology widely used to access sporting events and concerts, your phone is all you need to fly through the lobby.”
Alaska Airlines is investing $2.5 billion in overall improvements to enhance the airport experience within their hubs and focus cities including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Anchorage.
Charu Jain, Alaska Airlines Senior Vice President of Innovation and Merchandising highlighted the rationale behind changing their the kiosk system:
As we thought about how to provide the most caring experience for our guests, it was clear the lobby was a pain point. We realised the majority of our guests were doing most of the kiosk actions on their own phones and we could reduce the congestion in our airports. Alaska was the first airline to introduce kiosks more than 20 years ago, and we’ll be the first airline to remove them.
The airline is pushing towards a re-imagined airport experience centred around mobile check-in. The processes is outlined as follows:
Check-in and secure a boarding pass before coming to the airport.
Tag your bag at a new bag tag station, paying for a tagging checked bags using iPad tablets.
From Spring 2024, move to the self-service automated bag drop which scans your face, ID, and bags.
According to the press release, airports have already begun changing to the new tablets and guests are adapting—with 3 out of 4 guests arriving with a boarding pass in hand to airports with the new technology.
However, the airline will continue to make customer service agents available to passengers who require extra assistance.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) has announced its metaverse “debut” with an immersive experience called ChangiVerse. Transporting the physical airport into a digital space, people are encouraged to “experience the magic of Changi Airport like never before” with a whole host of benefits to the group.
CAG is consistently at the forefront of innovation in airports, providing passengers with a seamless, digitised experience at Singapore Changi Airport. As the aviation industry explores the metaverse, the group is positioning itself at the fore of experimentation, associating itself once again with innovation, and preparing for travel’s continued evolution into the digital realm.
ChangiVerse has been developed in collaboration with Accenture and the immersive virtual reality airport is built on a global shared experience platform called Roblox which has millions of daily users.
ChangiVerse is a digital representation of the physical airport across three key areas: the Jewel, Terminal 3, and Airport Boulevard. The virtual world features many of the world famous airport’s best known features including the Changi control tower and the iconic indoor waterfall at the Jewel. Across these spaces, visitors can access a range of activities and social experiences.
Image source: CAG
Hung Jean, group senior vice president of CAG’s Enterprise Digital Ecosystem & Business Division, said:
“With ChangiVerse, we want to strengthen Changi Airport’s position as more than just a transport node, but a fun and magical destination where memories are created. With our customers becoming more digitally savvy and interacting in the digital space, ChangiVerse is also about engaging our customers and serving them better through innovation and experimentation, in line with our belief of customers being at the heart of everything we do.”
Changi’s engagement with the metaverse helps “to reach a growing group of digital users and fans who want to explore travel destinations differently,” enabling people who have never visited the physical space to experience the airport in a digital capacity. This immersive experience may draw new travellers in, growing the airport’s international audience. It has been suggested the games could inspire young children’s engagement with the airport and even spark a degree of interest in career opportunities available at the airport.
Image source: CAG
Players are encouraged to take part in a wide range of games available in ChangiVerse, accumulating prizes across the virtual and physical space. Changi Kart is the “core game,” with contestants competing against one another, racing through Airport Boulevard. The top three competitors on the leader board each week will have their avatars appear at T3’s winners’ podium and there will be a monthly prize of Singapore Airlines tickets, with overseas winners eligible with a trip to Singapore and chance to see Changi Airport in person.
By encouraging people globally to interact with the airport in a new capacity, CAG unlocks a range of benefits. From engaging a new audience to positioning themselves for the future of travel, it will be exciting to see how Changi’s metaverse debut unfolds.
Webinar: Architecting the future of AI-fuelled offer and order management
This month, World Aviation Festival and PROS organised a webinar that looked at ‘Architecting the future of AI-fuelled offer and order management.” Here, panellists discussed the airline industry’s retailing transformation. Covering everything from the importance of commercial autonomy to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), how to drive a customer-centric offer and order management strategy was explored.
Legacy infrastructure has constrained airlines’ ability to create and dynamically price offers based on individual customer attributes, deliver those offers dynamically, and fulfill the order seamlessly. The ability to do so will bring commercial autonomy to airlines, enabling them to become true retailers. This webinar discusses how airlines can prioritize offer optimization and drive a customer-centric offer and order management strategy powered by proven AI to deliver commercial outcomes and accelerate revenue growth.
To hear the panellists discuss legacy constraints, road mapping the transformation, and much more watch the full webinarhere.
Interview with Kenny Chang, EVP & CMO, Korean Air – Marketing, culture, and technology
At Aviation Festival Asia 28th Feb – 1 March 2023, Kenny Chang joined for an interview exploring marketing, culture, and technology looking at both Korean Air and the industry more broadly.
During the interview, the CMO described how Korean Air embraces global awareness of South Korean culture to grow their brand internationally. This strategy led to Korean Air and YG Entertainment (YG) signing an agreement earlier this month, working symbiotically to promote Korean culture globally. Read more here. Within this interview, Kenny Chang explains how the airline harnesses the global popularity of K culture and the nuances of leveraging this to target across generations internationally.
The conversation also looks towards technology, discussing cloud and generative AI. Here, the CMO & EVP explores operations optimisation, customer experience, agility, and more.
Questions asked:
How are you embracing global awareness of South Korean culture to grow your brand internationally?
In what ways do you tailor your marketing to engage with the younger generations?
Can you describe how you are optimising operations and improving the customer experience through the use of cloud?
Where do you see generative AI like ChatGPT making the biggest difference in the industry? How can it be used and to what end?
How do you capitalise on the agility that a digital marketing strategy can offer?
David Emerson, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Virgin Australia – Keynote interview, “Five years of change in five months”
David Emerson, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Virgin Australia joined Bloomberg’s Danny Lee for a keynote interview focusing in on “Recovering from bankruptcy and a pandemic at the same time – the VA story.”
On 21 April 2020, Virgin Australia entered voluntary administration and in June the airline was acquired by US-based private equity firm Bain Capital. Under the new leadership of CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, the airline emerged as a leaner carrier filled with promise and by October the airline had officially returned to profit.
This 15-minute interview with David Emerson looks at how the airline shifted their business model, addressed the tech debt, and streamlined, to achieve one of the fastest airline turn arounds in history. David highlights the unique challenges and rare advantages of entering the administration process during a global pandemic as well as touching on partnerships in the longer term and the airline’s dynamic with Qantas.
Interview with Olivia Chang, CIO, Plaza Premium Group – Creating a seamless experience
At Aviation Festival Asia, Olivia Chang, CIO, Plaza Premium Group joined for an interview. In ten-minutes, the discussion covered technologies enabling a seamless experience, the industry’s digital transformation, ecosystem partnerships and more.
One of the key topics Chang discussed was the touchless economy highlighting the growing presence of mobiles in the passenger journey, the pandemic’s role in its acceleration, and changes in customer behaviours. Additionally, the interview explores data as the new oil, looking at leveraging data to maximise insights.
Touching on biometrics, the Internet of Things (IoT), data and more this short interview is packed with insight.
Questions asked:
What are some of the latest trends we are seeing in terms of improving passenger experience in airports?
How are new technologies transforming the industry?
What can we expect to see in the next few years in terms of developing a seamless airport experience for passengers?
