The Asia-Pacific region is a highly competitive aviation market where customers are more digitally attuned than any region in the world. According to the Zoho Workplace Digital Transformation Survey 2025, APAC’s digital transformation maturity overtakes that of the so-called developed nations and the global average rate.

In this environment, airlines need a strong, sophisticated retail strategy to engage with customers. Alan Dunne, Chief Product Office at Datalex notes how essential it is for carriers to develop mobile-first, omnichannel strategies that deliver the frictionless retail experience passengers expect.

As customers transition across different airline channels and touchpoints, they should be completely seamless. Equally, when they transition from between devices, they shouldn’t lose any sort of capability.

Datalex research has found that APAC customers are also more value-oriented, preferences Dunne believes will be better served through Offer-Order retail that can clearly communicate the benefits of each airline bundle. Yet further Datalex analysis shows that executives in the industry remain hesitant to commit fully. While a handful of carriers have gone all-in on end-to-end vendor solutions, others are combining modular solutions from different providers, or even mixing third-party software with in-house capabilities. This landscape has only grown more complex with the advent of artificial intelligence:

I think over the next 18 months we’re going to see a lot of change. Generative AI promises to deliver a lot. We’ll see how that pans out over the next while, but it’s a space that requires some investment now to really leverage it in the future.

In such a fast-moving environment, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the significant task of retail modernisation. Rather than becoming paralysed by big decisions, Dunne tells airlines to look for low-hanging fruit for easy return on investment. This includes dynamic bundling of ancillaries, which Datalex successfully deployed for clients easyJet at the close of 2025.

My advice to airlines would be to speak to companies like Datalex about those first steps where you can see some incremental return on investment and prove the business case before you move on to the more disruptive aspects of offer and order.

🎥 Watch the video to get the full interview with Alan Dunne.

Questions asked include:

  • What do you think airlines need to understand about customer behaviour in APAC to develop successful retail strategies?
  • How is Offer-Order evolving across this region? What’s holding back adoption?
  • In terms of AI, are airlines mature enough technologically to begin integrating agents into retail and payments?
  • What’s one piece of advice you would give to an airline that’s looking to take their retail strategy to the next level?

Join us at World Aviation Festival 2026 to discuss the future of airline retail.

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