“The aviation industry is a key area where AI can play a really significant factor. It goes from everything like personalised customer service, dynamic pricing, predictive maintenance, flight operations optimisation. To everything through from baggage tracking to handling of systems, biometrics and identity, autonomous vehicles, moving towards a dark airport, and robots…”
Reflecting on the significance of AI in the industry, Glenn Morgan, MD, Airfusion Ventures highlighted some of emerging trends to look out for at the World Aviation Festival.
Joining as a moderator for several AI panels at the event, Glenn will be covering the tech’s human adoption, applications on the ground, and much more with representatives from airlines including Emirates, easyJet, United, and Cathay Pacific.
As MD, Airfusion Ventures, and an active investor in AI companies, Glenn is well positioned to engage in dynamic discussions around aviation’s engagement with upcoming technologies. Airfusion Ventures is an innovation advisory firm building bridges between leading global corporations and the emerging tech economy. As IATA Chair, Glenn also launched the industry airline digital retailing program NDC, one Order.
Watch the full discussion below to hear Glenn’s thoughts on applications of AI in the industry and a short introduction into his sessions.
The industry’s become really good at using that data and those tools at optimization on days where things are going well and delivering a really good experience for passengers. But I think where AI in particular has a place is the bad days, the days where there’s weather or some other issue. And then once those delays start, the whole system becomes more challenging and unpredictable.”
Paul Gibson, VP of product at FlightAware explained AI’s potential for elevating operations. Predictive data can help to guide airports and airlines, optimising their available resources and improving decision-making. As the industry battles with increased disruption from extreme weather and staff shortages, the ability to harness the full power of data using AI can open up a considerable competitive advantage.
Looking towards the future, Paul also pointed out several ways the uses of AI will evolve from longer term predictions around mass disruption to sustainability.
Get your ticket for the World Aviation Festival to hear more from Paul who will be joining speakers from Emirates and United Airlines, answering the question, “How can we better-integrate AI to improve overall operations?”
FlightAware, is best known for the flight tracking website and app, but it specialises in collecting data from multiple sources to tell the story of each flight. The data is then interpreted and enriched, including with some AI technology to deliver information to customers so they can use it to empower their business. For two years, FlightAware has been part of the Collin’s Aerospace family, enabling an even greater impact on the industry.
For more on what to expect at this year’s World Aviation Festival see:
Sinead Finn, Founder, affinnity joined for a brief discussion in preparation for the World Aviation Festival. The conversation touched on notable trends shaping the industry landscape, a glimpse into her upcoming sessions, and a comment on the event’s evolution.
Discussing the Revenue Management panel that Sinead will be moderating, the affinnity Founder explained:
“I’m really excited about our panellists and we’ve got some great airlines on there. So we’ve got EasyJet, we’ve got Sun Express, and Lufthansa – it’s a good spread across all the airline types. It’ll be really interesting to see what they have to say about revenue and how revenue is moving and how technology is helping.”
Sinead also highlighted two prominent trends in the industry to look out for in discussion at the event. Firstly, the loyalty shift towards building relationships beyond travel, rooted in an elevated understanding of individual customers. Secondly, the cost of sustainability going forward and how airlines will navigate this.
Watch the full interview below.
For more on what to expect at World Aviation Festival see:
“Those types of capabilities where it impacts the passenger’s experience greatly provides a negative context to what used to be pretty glamorous air travel. The last thing anybody wants going on vacation or even a business trip is disruptions. So a lot of airports and airlines as well are investing heavily on how to prevent, or when a disruption does happen, how to recover quickly and with the least impact to the travellers.”
Noting how COVID accelerated the adoption of technology in airports, Bill Carleton, Director of Advanced Recognition Systems, NEC Corporation of America mapped out some of the ways that the industry has leveraged technology to improve the passenger experience post-pandemic. NEC Corporation of America is a leading technology integrator with a special focus on safety, security, and efficiency.
Exploring the potential that the World Aviation Festival has for driving progress in the digitisation of airports, Bill explained the event:
“Bring[s] together both the the executive levels, travel technology companies, and pretty much everyone in between who helps make things work both front house and back end house in the airports; to catalyse innovation by just having conversations and talking about what are the problems being faced in this region or that part of the world.”
Watch the full interview below.
For more on what to expect at the World Aviation Festival see:
As the industry’s landscape evolves, innovation is key. At World Aviation Festival, Ann Cederhall, Consultant at LeapShift will be sitting down with industry leaders, facilitating discussion around the future of PSS, new modal connections, NDC, emerging trends, and much more.
In this short interview, Ann, author of The State of Airline Retailing whitepaper, highlights a few key trends to look out for at the event and outlines how these will be explored.
This year’s retail agenda is packed with thought-provoking sessions working through industry challenges, exploring the impact of new tech, and empowering the adoption of innovative strategies. Some of the key industry speakers include Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Management Board, Swiss International Air Lines; Julio Rodriguez, Chief Commercial Strategy Officer, IAG; Tiddo Veldhuis, Director Product Strategy, KLM; and Justin Jovignot, Director, Commercial Strategy and Distribution, TAP Air Portugal.
To hear directly from industry leaders at the World Aviation Festival get your ticket now.
Charlotte Dumesnil, Director of Sales, Distribution and Alliances at Vueling Airlines will be speaking at World Aviation Festival on empowering customers and improving their experience through a large and efficient portfolio of payment methods.
In advance of the event, Dumesnil joined for a brief interview offering her insights into the evolving landscape of airline payments. The conversation looked at causes of unsuccessful payments and the challenges arising from aligning distribution with payments. Additionally, the impact of enhancing customer experience on converting payments was explored and Dumesnil shared her predictions for fintech trends in the coming year.
Speaking with twenty years of experience in the airline industry, Dumesnil opened the discussion with an overview of common reasons behind unsuccessful payments, highlighting the intricacies of creating a successful payment strategy. Here, two main causes of errors were explored and Vueling’s Director of Sales, Distribution and Alliances explained how the airline mitigates these to successfully surpass the industry average for bank conversion rates.
The conversation also at enhancing customer experience to help limit unsuccessful transactions. At Vueling, Dumesnil explains, a key focus for the airline is offering a large portfolio of payment methods and in particular, alternative payment forms like Apple Pay and Google Pay are set to play an important part in limiting friction for customers.
Casting her eyes to the future, Dumesnil also predicted which fintech trends will grow in prominence in the coming twelve months. Touching on account-to-account payment, “Buy Now, Pay Later” solutions, responding to NDC, and crypto payments, the interview explored several exciting developments set to enhance the payments landscape for airlines and customers alike.
To learn more from Vueling’s Director of Sales, Distribution and Alliances about empowering customers and creating a seamless payment experience, get your ticket for the World Aviation Festival.
Tech, collaboration, and evolution with the Director General at ACI World
In September, Luis Felipe De Oliveira will be speaking at the World Aviation Festival on pursuing meaningful innovation in airports that will remain relevant decades into the future.
The Director General at ACI World has over 25 years experience in the industry. Having held a variety of roles during this period, Felipe has a deep appreciation for the aviation ecosystem which is conveyed consistently in the interview through an emphasis on collaboration. During the 15-minute conversation, Felipe assesses the post-pandemic landscape, explores cooperation in the pursuit of environmental goals, and outlines key tech trends impacting airports in the next 5-10 years.
Opening with a broad view of the industry post-covid, the Director General expressed optimism about its recovery recalling “a very positive mood in this sector.” Conveying the tone from the recent ACI EUROPE / ACI WORLD Annual General Assembly Conference and Exhibition (WAGA), Felipe outlined reassuring recovery trajectories and the wider significance of these for global social-economic development.
Looking at the broad challenges the industry now faces, the primary concern was sustainability. Here, Felipe stressed the importance of collaboration in this pursuit, not just between airlines and airports, but across the entire aviation ecosystem. This added depth to the discussion around environmental goals and the role of varying initiatives and technologies in building towards them.
The conversation ended with a look at key tech trends Felipe sees shaping airport evolution in the next 5-10 years. This explored biometrics and digital identity management, contactless technology, AI, 3D printing and more. Felipe highlighted that we must leverage the technology to its fullest, whilst always keeping the passenger in mind saying:
“There are a lot of opportunities to engage with technology and to be more effective and user-friendly. The passenger is first. We need to work to the passenger happy – that is the main reason of our existence.”
To hear Felipe speak on all of this, watch the full interview below.
For more from speakers you can expect to see in September take a look at:
Olivier Krueger, CMO Lufthansa Group – “Differentiating from old school marketing.”
Olivier Krueger, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Lufthansa Group joined for an interview in advance of this year’s World Aviation Festival. At the conference, the CMO will participate in a fireside chat and two panels exploring personalisation techniques, consumer behaviours, shaping brand strategies and more.
Krueger was Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Systems, one of the world’s leading providers of IT services in the airline industry, before becoming CMO of Lufthansa Group, where he is responsible for marketing, brand positioning, loyalty, ancillaries and more.
This 10-minute interview is split into two halves. The first covers building an understanding of individual customers and the second navigates the complex sustainability landscape from a marketing and loyalty perspective.
The conversation began with a discussion around what it means to understand the customer and how this has evolved over time. The CMO explained that today, when it comes to this, “possibilities are almost endless. But at the same time, we are still at the beginning in our in our industry when we compare ourselves to others out there.” Breaking the discussion into trust and technology, Krueger highlighted the importance of establishing trust with the customer in order to unlock a wide range of benefits for both the customer and the Group.
From this foundation, the CMO delved into the role technology plays, pointing specifically towards data analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence as means to derive insight. Looking forwards, Krueger also touched on predictions around travel behaviour as one of the future growth areas, where knowledge of customer preferences and analysis of trends come together.
The second half of the interview scratched the surface of the expansive topic that is sustainability in aviation. Exploring the complex nexus of sustainability, marketing, and loyalty the CMO explained that for Lufthansa Group, it is important to talk precisely about what they do and where they are heading, highlighting the main technology levers being actioned and breaking from “old school marketing.” Exploring the complexities of sustainability in aviation, Krueger reflected on the frequent disconnect between the customer’s willingness to pay and their expectations for the industry.
The CMO also unpacked the potential paradox between loyalty and sustainability. Confident that it is not “an unsolvable conflict,” Krueger instead positions it as requiring a holistic approach, integrating sustainable practices into both the online strategy and the loyalty planning to “align the loyalty programme with eco-conscious values.” Here, the need to incentivise sustainable travel behaviours was discussed tying back into previous discussions around leveraging data to build a more accurate understanding of customer behaviours.
To hear directly from Olivier at this year’s World Aviation Festival, get your ticket now.
For more interviews with this year’s World Aviation Festival speakers see:
Lisa Eyamie, Director of Digital Roadmap and Innovation at WestJet: Avoiding “innovation for the sake of innovation.”
At this year’s World Aviation Festival, Lisa Eyamie, Director of Digital Roadmap and Innovation at WestJet will be delving into the topic of innovation, looking at how it can be used to improve existing structures, the areas we are seeing initial investment truly pay off, and understanding how innovative tech is expected to transform the industry.
Demonstrating their commitment to innovation, WestJet has a digital transformation portfolio consisting of four main areas. The Digital Academy, which provides training and education on what digitalisation means to the company; the Digital Strategy and Roadmap, which aligns business strategies with digital solutions; the Digital Community and Ecosystems, which fosters collaboration and partnerships internally and externally; and the Business Development and Consulting team, which helps implement digital ideas and technologies.
Throughout the interview, a resounding message was to avoid innovation for the sake of innovation. During the conversation, Eyamie outlines some of the nuances, challenges, and catalysts within the industry emphasising the importance of strategic and purposeful progress.
Clarifying an area of ambiguity within the industry, Eyamie shed light on the distinction between innovation and improving what is already there. The WestJet Director of Digital Roadmap and Innovation explained:
“So I think of small ‘i’ and big ‘I’. […] Small ‘i’ is really about improvements, incremental change, incremental growth which lead to large scale change over time. This is less about a sprint, it’s more about the march, the marathon. Big ‘I’ Innovation, it’s big, it’s exciting, it could be really transformative, but in and of itself, it’s not necessarily what needs to be done all the time.”
The 10-minute conversation also debated the presence of barriers to innovation. Here, Eyamie suggested that overall, aviation as an industry is “leaning in,” exhibiting the necessary interest and investment needed to make substantial progress. Despite this, the Director of Digital Roadmap and Innovation suggested that the industry is also catching up from decades of underinvestment and requires careful thought about how to optimise resources and skills to gain traction in the digital journey.
To hear more about innovation vs Innovation, analysis paralysis, and catalysts within the industry, watch the full interview below.
To watch Eyamie speak on innovation, get your ticket for the World Aviation Festival. For more on what you can expect at the event read here.
Dr Nejib Ben-Khedher, Head of Emirates Skywards: Leveraging technology to optimise airline loyalty programmes
Dr Nejib Ben-Khedher will be at the World Aviation Festival in September,exploring how Skywards redefines the loyalty landscape and participating in a panel reimagining loyalty strategies for the future.
Dr Nejib is currently Head of Emirates Skywards, the award-winning loyalty programme with over 30 million members. Equipped with 30 years of global airline and travel experience, spanning from being the COO of a major US-based online travel retailer, to leading an airline consulting practice and a global delivery organization for a prominent business technology solutions provider, Dr Nejib has a wealth of experience in the industry informing his views on the future of loyalty.
In advance of the conference, the Head of Emirates Skywards joined for a brief interview exploring how technology can be leveraged to optimise airline loyalty programmes. The conversation delved into the benefits of emerging technologies like blockchain and AI, considering the differing ways these can improve a programme’s overall offering. Dr Nejib also provided a nuanced view on when to draw on innovative digital tech explaining:
“I would say first of all and maybe I’m a bit conservative here and saying that we need to fix the fundamentals first […] We’re really working on fixing that backend technology that will allow us to be much more agile […] So we’re not talking about innovation here. We’re really talking about catching up in some way and then and being able to provide that technology because once the backend is done, then we can innovate on top of that technology.”
The interview concluded with a discussion of recent travel tech trends, with Dr Nejib pointing out several developments with the power to impact the industry. From superapps to fraud, metaverse to fixing the fundamentals, this concise interview looks at loyalty from the perspective of one of the industry’s leading loyalty figures.
Tara Mulrooney, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Innovation at Edmonton International Airport – “The airport’s complex digital backbone.”
Tara Mulrooney, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Innovation at Edmonton International Airport (EIA) will be speaking at this year’s World Aviation Festival. At the event Mulrooney will participate in panels looking at the intersect between innovation and cybersecurity, road mapping the biometric experience, and analysing the broader air travel ecosystem.
Having previously referred to airports as having “a complex digital backbone,” the interview began by unpacking this description. Here, the CTO shed light on the true intricacy of airport networks, highlighting the interconnected systems, processes, and data flows. This explanation formed the foundation of the interview, upon which further discussions of navigating innovation and the ownership of biometric data formed.
Discussing the topic of biometrics, Mulrooney shared her perspective on data ownership. As the technology becomes a more deeply engrained aspect of the passenger journey, questions around data privacy, security, and ownership require clarity. The CTO expressed a preference for government ownership of biometric ID reasoning:
“I think it’s really important that we are good stewards of information whether we’re the airport, the airline, or one of our partners […] When we step back and put the passenger first, why would a passenger want to submit biometrics to multiple people? Why would they want to sign up and share biometrics with every airline or every airport? So if we think about that, it really does make sense for government to to create that credential. And then we as different transportation providers can look that up.”
This 10-minute interview offers valuable insights into the industry ecosystem, the complications of data, and how aviation can strive towards a more interconnected and secure future.
To see Tara speak at the following sessions, get your ticket for the World Aviation Festival.
Fireside Chat: Innovation Meets Cybersecurity – The intersection of digital and security in the aviation industry
Airport CIO Panel: Roadmapping the biometric experience – How can the global aviation industry be ready for a paperless experience by 2030?
Closing keynote panel: 360 degree overview of the air travel ecosystem – Connecting commercial with operations using data science, AI/ML and digital twins.
Interview with Mauro Oretti, Head of Operations, SkyTeam. The Sustainable Flight Challenge: Producing tangible results.
This year, Mauro Oretti, Head of Operations at SkyTeam will be delivering a presentation at the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon answering the question “How effective has the Sustainable Flight Challenge been in uniting 20+ airlines with the aim of fostering sustainability in aviation?”
In advance of this, the SkyTeam Head of Operations joined for a brief 10-minute interview delving deeper into the nuances of the challenge. During the discussion, Mauro explored how the challenge drives innovation around operational efficiency and the complexities that come with extending these initiatives across multiple industry players.
Before the recording, the Head of Operations explained the challenge “is not a marketing endeavour, it is a sustainability endeavour” and as such, “we are not just talking about it, but we are doing something.” Through bringing together airlines and sparking creative thinking around sustainability in the industry, the challenge helps to generate out of the box solutions and nurture them into tangible results.
The Sustainable Flight Challenge (TSFC) is run by the global airline alliance, SkyTeam. Initially the challenge was thought up by a group of KLM employees but was quickly brought under the SkyTeam alliance umbrella who pushed to extend its reach on seeing its potential. First launched in May 2022, 2023 marks the second year of TSFC which was extended to ‘friends & family’ airlines close to SkyTeam growing the number of participating airlines from 18 to 22.
In addition to encouraging friendly competition, TSFC nurtures collective learning. Participating airlines are tasked with taking existing flights in their respective networks and making them as sustainable as possible. Each airline commits to sharing learnings open source and respecting competition law boundaries to help drive industry change. Mauro explains that through TSFC “there are innumerable learnings and finding that can then be utilised in daily operation […] and our idea is really to have an open approach involving as many players as possible.” The competition helps to stimulate creative thinking around sustainability producing ideas that are then translated into long term changes.
The Head of Operations emphasises the importance of translating the ideas generated during the competition into concrete actions, highlighting it as the most vital phase of the challenge. When the conversation focused specifically on the challenge’s purpose, Mauro explained:
“We have brought together 22 airlines to compete, to work on, and share knowledge and this is bringing very tangible results. These results can then be taken by each individual airline, adopted, and this should foster improvements in the reduction of CO2 emissions.”
Innovation around sustainability is fundamental to ensuring the future of the aviation industry is compatible with the future of our planet. With increasing concerns about climate change and the industry’s environmental impact, creative solutions can help to unlock new possibilities and support the future of sustainable operations.
To learn more about TSFC, watch the full interview below.
Mauro and other esteemed industry experts will be speaking at this year’s World Aviation Festival. The event will dive into discussions around sustainability, innovation, and much more. View the full agenda here.
Marcelo Mota, Commercial Director and CCO, Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos – “Tech is an extremely powerful tool to leverage competitivity and the success of business activities.”
Internationally, airports are leveraging technology to enhance operations and elevate passenger satisfaction. Marcelo Mota, Commercial Director and CCO, Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos joined for a 10-minute interview discussing the correlation between passenger experience and the effective utilisation of technology, highlighting specific examples at Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos.
Marcelo has been working in the industry for almost 25 years. Having previously been involved with the revamping project at Toronto Pearson Airport, Marcelo has worked at Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos for over a decade. Located in Brazil, the airport grew its capacity from 3.5 million passengers per year to 25 million passengers per year crafting a modern terminal that offers more comfort and safety for its users.
During this interview, the Commercial Director and CCO positioned technology as a tool unlocking efficiency, productivity, and enhancing activities across the board. The conversation looked at the influence of digital technology on the airport’s resource allocation process, fleet management systems, airport maintenance management system and more to understand the scale at which tech can optimise operations.
Throughout the discussion, Marcelo highlighted technology as a means to fully realise the potential of the airport’s human workforce, enabling employees to focus on more strategic aspects of their roles requiring human judgement, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Although the benefits of technology formed the majority of the conversation, Marcelo also stressed that “when technology is poorly adopted it can become a menace to the same activities [that it was intended to improve].”
At this year’s World Aviation Festival, Marcelo Mota will be looking at “optimising passenger experience through operational excellency” and taking part in a COO panel exploring how airports leverage digital technologies to optimise overall operational performance. To hear first hand from Marcelo and other industry experts book your ticket now.
AFA Panel discussion: The impact of COVID-19 on Chinese airlines’ international network and the way forward for greater collaboration between Chinese and international airlines
In 2019, Mainland Chinese tourists took 155 million outbound trips, totalling £225 billion in travel spending making it the largest outbound travel market in the world in terms of number of trips and total spend. China plays a major role in the international aviation and tourism industries and, as one of the last counties to reopen from the pandemic, their absence was greatly felt during global recovery.
The international superpower began dropping restrictions in January 2023, nearly three years after China closed its borders. At Aviation Festival Asia, Zhang Wuan, VP Spring Airlines and Wayne Wang, Assistant Director, Commercial, Hong Kong Airlines joined industry analyst Henry Harteveldt for a discussion around the impact of the pandemic of Chinese airlines’ international network and the way forward.
The conversation looked at how both airlines survived the pandemic understanding their different experiences and exploring strategies for re-emergence.
Each airline brought a different perspective to the discussion. Spring Airlines, China’s first low-cost domestic airline, supplied a low cost perspective which shaped the discussion around possibilities for growth and future development. This complemented Hong Kong Airlines’ as one of four carriers headquartered in Hong Kong in amongst Cathay Pacific, HK Express, and Greater Bay Airlines. This position was reflected in Wayne Wang’s thoughts on differentiation, an aspect of conversation that Henry honed in one. Stemming from these diverging backgrounds, the airlines individually explored their strategies for international collaboration and the challenges that can occur.
At Aviation Festival Asia, Joanna Patterson VP Sales APAC, Etihad Airways joined Brian Sumers for a keynote interview. The conversation briefly covered Etihad’s pandemic experience before focusing on the nature of the emerging landscape.
Joanna explored the balancing act between capacity and demand, considering the different rates at which regions opened up and explaining the impact this had on the airline. Looking at inbound vs outbound travel rates as well as point of sale, the VP Sales APAC painted a comprehensive picture of the new normal in the APAC region.
Turning to trends, this interview delved into the return of corporate travel answering questions like: is it coming back? Will we ever get back to business demand? Can you effectively measure corporate vs leisure travel? Here, Joanna mapped out the landscape whilst explaining how Etihad are planning for the evolving demand.
Keynote LCC CEO panel: How is the low cost landscape evolving and what key trends are emerging?
At Aviation Festival Asia, Mandy Ng, the then CEO HK Express, Rob L. McKinney, CEO Northern Pacific Airways, Con Korfiatis CEO flyadeal, and Carly Povey, CCO Bonza, joined for a panel exploring the evolving low cost landscape. This session asked, ‘as we continue to reopen the region how is the low cost landscape evolving and what are the key trends emerging when it comes to market share, digital technology, sustainability, ancillary revenue and passenger behaviours?’
The diverse customer base of the airlines represented on the panel produced valuable insights with each carrier bringing different strategies to the discussion. As described by Carly, 99 per cent of Bonza’s bookings are made through the app, contrasting against Alaska based-Northern Pacific Airways who’s customer base includes villages in Alaska with “Native Alaskans who will walk up to the counter and buy a ticket with cash.” Drawing on the range within the carriers, Brian Sumers expertly accentuated the airlines’ differences, leveraging the CEO’s experiences to add depth to the discussion.
The panel covered a variety of topics from sustainability, ancillary revenue, superapp ambitions, booking strategies, and margins to unpack the current LCC landscape and look towards the future.
Mandy Ng, CEO HK Express – Keynote interview, “Concentrating digital investment on customer-centric initiatives”
At Aviation Festival Asia, Mandy Ng, CEO HK Express joined Brian Sumers for a keynote interview. During the session, the conversation explored the post-pandemic landscape, ticket pricing to reflect value, overhauling the digital experience, rebranding, shifts in consumer behaviour, and more.
One significant focus was HK Express’ improved digital experience, enhancing the key principles as a low-cost carrier (LCC) “agility, simplicity, and efficiency.” Here, Mandy explained how the in-app search and book journey has been streamlined down to four key steps from six, resulting in a doubled conversion rate. The airline CEO also pointed towards personalisation and a mobile first strategy as already enriching the digital experience for the customer, as well as an area the carrier is set to develop in parallel with the growth of customer insights.
Mandy also discussed the airline’s rebranding, pushing to reflect HK Express as “simple, reliable, and fun” in the internal culture not just in external campaigns. Here, Mandy indicated a holistic approach to the rebrand seeking to have the uniqueness of customers mirrored in the individuality of the air crew. One of the ways this is being enacted is through a change in the cabin crew’s uniform, affording employees the option to wear trousers or a skirt, trainers or more traditional footwear.
For more on the above and to hear about the LCC’s alternative experience with labour shortages, observations on consumer behaviour changes, and more, watch the full 15-minute interview below.
AFA Keynote airport CEO panel: Entering Asian airports’ post-pandemic era of unprecedented digital transformation, collaboration, innovation, and reimagined business models
At Aviation Festival Asia, the airport CEO panel comprised of Hari Marar, Managing Director & CEO at Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), Ayman Aboabah CEO King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), and Sumesh Patel President, Asia Pacific SITA, gathered to discuss the evolution of airports in a post-pandemic era.
The discussion broadly looked at business models, digitalisation, the future of the airport experience, intermodal travel, and sustainability. When dissecting these topics, panellists considered the impact of the pandemic, with Ayman highlighting that “hard times teach you how to deal with good times,” reframing the period as accelerating the industry’s digital learning curve.
All dialogue was underpinned by digital transformation, forming the foundation of topics from catering to different generations to integrating future modes of transport into an airport hub.
Highlights of the panel include an insightful conversation around where the industry is at with digital border crossings and reducing reliance on paper documents. Here, Sumesh’s insight complemented the panel discussion with an analysis of the challenges associated with implementing global standards.
Additionally, the conversation around intermodal travel sparked interesting discussion surrounding the future of travel. Hari highlighted that friction occurs when shifting from one mode of travel to another, explaining the role the airport can play in easing this by establishing it as a hub of transport, open to integrating future modes of transport as they come up.
For all this and more watch the full interview below.
Hari Marar, MD & CEO BIAL – Keynote interview, throwing bytes not bricks
At Aviation Festival Asia, Hari Marar, Managing Director & CEO at Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) joined Henry Harteveldt on stage for a keynote interview. The discussion explored the challenges and advantages of being a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) airport, BIAL’s hospitality mindset, digital transformation within a global tech hub, biometrics concerns, and the growth of India’s aviation industry.
Throughout the interview, the customer was emphasised as BIAL’s priority. Explaining the benefits of being a PPP airport, Hari demonstrated how this structure enables them to keep the customer at the centre of development, facilitating the airport’s “hospitality flavour.” Hari also highlighted how the concept of hospitality within the airport forms a key point of differentiation, delivering a seamless, convenient, memorable experience for passengers whilst generating additional revenue.
The conversation also dissected BIAL’s digital transformation, with Hari positioning technology as a way to maximise existing infrastructure. This approach was succinctly condensed by the airport’s CEO, finding “not always throwing bricks at it but sometimes throwing bytes at it is a better way to extract better capacity.” Furthermore, technology was identified as a means to enhance efficiency, passenger experience, and non-aeronautical revenues.
For this and more, watch the full 15-minute interview below.
Ayman Aboabah, CEO King Abdulaziz International Airport – Keynote interview, “The common goal between all travellers.”
At Aviation Festival Asia, Mr Ayman Aboabah, CEO King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) joined renowned travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt for a keynote interview. During the conversation, Aboabah discussed the airport’s plans for a seamless passenger journey which focuses on innovation as well as financial and environmental sustainability.
In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals, the airport is preparing for a rapid scaling up of demand expecting to grow over 2.5 times within the next seven years. Approximately 40 per cent of the predicted passenger traffic is formed of religious travellers, with the airport acting as a gateway for pilgrims to the Holy Mosques (Hajj and Umrah).
The interview highlights the varying requirements and expectations of religious travellers, many of whom may be first time flyers, from small towns, and some who do not engage with technology on the same level as the average traveller. Consequently, this presents KAIA with a range to consider when crafting the best travel experience for all passengers. Aboabah explains during the conversation that despite these travellers speaking hundreds of languages, coming from all over the world, harbouring differences in education and mindset, they all share a common goal; the desire for seamless travel.
Watch the full interview below to hear about how innovation will be used to account for the diversity of travellers and growing passenger traffic.
