As an industry, aviation is moving from experimenting with AI to full-scale deployments. In this transition, several uses cases are emerging that offer real returns on investment (ROI). George Varghese, Head of Data & AI CoE at IBS Software, notes that revenue management has become a key area for optimisation through technology:

Personalisation, product bundling, dynamic pricing — those airlines that are harvesting their own loyalty data and using it for AI applications go far.

Operational efficiency is also improving through AI, with airlines better able to organise their crews and respond to disruption. However, innovation capability varies wildly from carrier to carrier. Varghese explains that the airlines who’ve made the biggest leaps forward on AI deployment have unified their data, including establishing common definitions across passenger service systems (PSS). He also believes attitude is important:

You need to have a startup mindset: innovate fast and fail fast. You’ve got to try a lot of use cases to figure out what works.

Data privacy and ethical AI use remain paramount throughout all stage of AI deployment. Varghese instructs airlines to remain compliant with regulations, including GDPR, while using behavioural data rather than identity in models. These concerns have to remain at the heart of the conversation, especially as AI becomes more intelligent. Models will soon be able to act as full-blown agents, able to offer customers personalised product bundles. Airlines are also expanding beyond flights to become ‘super apps’, with retail offerings spanning the entire travel experience. IBS are themselves leading the charge in this regard through an extensive collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Varghese is enthusiastic about these possibilities:

These are not experimental products. They’re coming very soon. It’s exciting times ahead.

🎥 Watch the video to get the full interview with George Varghese.

  • As we move from AI experimentation to deployment, where do you think airlines can unlock the most ROI?
  • Why have some airlines moved quicker on innovation than others?
  • When it comes to ethical AI use and data protection, how can airlines make sure they’re safeguarding passenger information?
  • In the future, how do you see AI evolving?

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