Artificial intelligence (AI) was one of the biggest topics at World Aviation Festival 2025. But as the industry races to implement tech solutions, are we overlooking key business cases?

In an exclusive interview, Manuel van Esch, Managing Director of zeroG – Lufthansa Group, shared his insights on practical AI application, from deploying agents effectively to keeping humans in the loop.

Where AI will really make a big difference is making sure the passenger experience becomes smoother, more intuitive, and more personal. Not every decision needs to be made by a human agent, but humans need to be involved. 

zeroG has seen impressive results in using AI to optimise tail swaps. The system provides recommendations to controllers on when to enact a tail swap, and what effect it might have on a flight plan. Van Esch believes that instilling trust in human controllers has been key to realising the full potential of this AI enhancement.

What will make a difference is not the technology itself, or the data underpinning the technology, or the business case. Ultimately, it’s people trusting an AI system to make decisions in a safe environment where we can still feel in control. 

He offers four key principles for AI adoption readiness, including adherence to the EU AI act for European companies, strong data foundations, and AI upskilling. Van Esch also argues that airlines are overlooking more effective insight-generation use cases in favour of cost-cutting through automation.

Through AI, you generate a lot of new insights that you can then implement and use to optimise your processes. Process optimisation has a very big business case, but usually people don’t tend to focus on that.

Looking to the future, van Esch hesitates to make too many predictions in the highly dynamic tech sector. However, he does hope that the aviation industry will focus more on holistic, big-picture problem solving to address key issues such as crew management and flight scheduling.

I hope that we become a little more imaginative. The aviation industry triggers imagination and a longing in people to travel and explore, but the industry itself is sometimes relatively conservative. And I think if you look at the potential of AI, it helps us manage opportunities.

🎥 Watch the interview to hear Manuel van Esch’s full thoughts on effective AI adoption in aviation.

Questions asked include:

  • How can the aviation industry invest in agentic AI that has real impact and longevity?
  • What are the common pitfalls of AI implementation and how can they be avoided? What sort of processes/people do you need in place for an effective AI strategy?
  • What’s the next frontier for AI in aviation?

Join us at World Aviation Festival 2026 to discuss and learn from impactful AI use cases.

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