As 2024 draws to a close, we are reflecting on the news and topics that grabbed your attention this year. Here are the top five most read articles of 2024.
1. Alaska Airlines’ AI-powered destination flight search tool
This month, Alaska Airlines made its AI-powered flight search tool available to all website visitors. During initial trials in April and May with the feature only open to 5 and 15 per cent of searchers, it was reported as imperfect but promising for the future of travel booking. The “AI destination search tool” leverages tech from Microsoft and OpenAI’s generative AI to offer customers a new and inspiring way to search for flights. Notably, the tool incorporates the airline’s loyalty programme, enabling visitors to search for flights requiring a specific number of loyalty points or for those that will earn them many points…Read full article
2. 26 challenges and opportunities on aviation’s road to 2050
I thought I’d take a step back and look at challenges and opportunities facing Aviation until 2050, across eight areas. I’ve listed 26 topics below, like the number of years to go until 2050. In 2024 the main challenge facing air transport, but also the biggest opportunity, may be sustainability. The sustainability of an industry is the balance between the benefits and costs to the society. In the case of air transport, the benefits in terms of jobs and economic development may represent about 2-3% of the world’s GDP (about $2.5 trillion compared to $100 trillion[1]), whereas the costs to society include about 2% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (about 1b…Read full article
3. Star Alliance launches loyalty status match initiative
At the start of the week, Star Alliance launched a new loyalty status match initiative powered by StatusMatch.com for frequent flyers in Scandinavia. The announcement came the day after SAS officially joined SkyTeam’s global airline alliance following its exit from Star Alliance in August. The loyalty offer empowers passengers to a claim a “status match/challenge” across select member airlines in Scandinavia. Participating airlines include Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa Group airlines, South African Airways, TAP Air Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, and United….Read full article
4. ESG in the world of airlines
In the fast-evolving landscape of the airline industry, the adoption of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles is increasingly becoming a pivotal factor in shaping the strategies of airlines. In this blog I explore how airlines are integrating ESG to contribute to a more sustainable and responsible future for air travel – not only by compensation or using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). ESG in airline distribution, for example, starts with a focus on reducing the environmental impact of distribution processes. From paperless ticketing to digital boarding passes, airlines are leveraging technology to minimize the use of paper, thereby decreasing their ecological footprint. This m…Read full article
5. Turkish Airlines announces strategic partnerships with leading content aggregators after removing fares from Sabre
On Wednesday, Turkish Airlines released an announcement on the expansion of its TKCONNECT programme. The programme, which is fully compliant with New Distribution Capability (NDC) standards will equip agents with state-of-the-art tools and a streamlined booking process, amongst other benefits. As part of the release, the airline highlighted its strategic partnership with leading content aggregators including Travelfusion, Verteil, DRCT, Mystifly, Nuua, Nuflights and Theta. AirGateway will also be one of the launching partners…Read full article
What do you think will be the biggest topics to explore in 2025?
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