Andrew Wilcock, chief revenue officer, Accelya

Looking ahead to 2024, the aviation industry will continue to face significant macro-level challenges.

As travel demand fluctuates, inflation remains uncertain, the cost of living and oil rises, workforce shortages remain, global political turmoil continues, and the acceleration of measures to tackle climate change, the next 12 months are set for turbulence.

Central to these challenges are the ever-changing demands of customers. Today, travellers expect more than just a flight; they demand an experience tailored to their preferences – a seamless journey from booking to disembarking.

The modern customer is exceptionally tech savvy, demanding effortless and user-friendly digital experiences – made possible in the travel industry through modernized and digital retailing.

Alongside increased expectations, travel trends themselves have also undergone a complete transformation.

Everything from preferred flight times and booking processes, through to pre-flight and in-flight amenities, have seen a significant change.

It is the role of airline leaders to keep pace with these shifts, ensuring that booking the flight is as easy as enjoying the ride.

As the aviation industry – currently operating at approximately 84.2% of pre-pandemic global traffic levels – continues to chart its course to recovery, technology has a key role in enabling airlines to pull ahead of the competition.

It is a trend that we’re talking about day in and day out with airline leaders at Accelya, highlighting the ever-increasing value of technology to keep pace with the changing dynamics of travel.

Cutting-edge technology solutions ensure competitiveness in this evolving landscape, essential for 2024.

To help airlines align themselves with these revised expectations and trends here are five technology and innovations to consider.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Following the AI Summit in the UK earlier this month, there continues to be significant buzz around AI and for good reason.

In the aviation market, AI is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43% between 2023 and 2027; forecast to increase by $3.6 million.

As customers demand a personalised experience, AI holds the potential to offer recommendations based on travellers’ past choices.

If they always book a route from London Heathrow at LAX on the last Friday of the month, AI can automatically populate their route, date, and find the best option aligned to the individual’s preferences.

In-flight, AI can pre-book the travelers usual seat preference and even select menu choices. It is a game changer for seamless travel experiences.

Looking at benefits for airlines, AI’s dynamic pricing capabilities can empower companies to offer custom fares based on a traveller’s previous bookings and real-time market demand.

What is clear is, AI holds the potential to add value to both customers and business operations and as a result, airlines need to be carefully setting strategies to leverage AI if they are not already.

Unleashing the power of New Distribution Capability (NDC)

NDC has become a cornerstone for unlocking new avenues of profitable growth and driving revenue gains through commercial efficiencies.

NDC empowers airlines with greater control over their distribution strategies, fostering rapid innovation and reducing new product time-to-market.

As a result, it empowers airlines to craft dynamic, customised offers for travellers, delivering rich real-time content to travel agents without the constraints of legacy systems.

To realise the value of NDC, airlines need to invest in essential technology infrastructure including compatible booking engines and seamless system integrations.

It is a significant undertaking, although, adoption is a journey – as it is with any emerging technology. The key is to work with the right partners to overcome any adoption obstacles.

Take American Airlines for instance. While today, NDC contributes to their success as one of the leading airline retailers, when the company first adopted the technology, the airline faced hurdles.

American Airlines adopted the technology to make its premium content available to third-party travel sellers exclusive through NDC connections.

However, travel agencies and management companies struggled to convert legacy GDS (EDIFACT) bookings to NDC-compliant tickets.

Working in partnership with us at Accelya, together, we were able to successfully develop and deploy a solution that resolved the issue in under 90 days – with an expected 80% of sales to be conducted directly by year-end.

Elevating Customer Experiences with ONE Order

While NDC is the first step in digitalising airline retail, modernising the stack with One Order should follow closely behind.

One Order enables airlines to modernize the retail stack by phasing out different record types in favor of a real-time ‘single source of truth’ to document passengers purchases.

The approach allows customer information to flow freely across the airline business – often impossible in legacy systems – enhancing the customer experience from thought to flight, to servicing and fulfilment.

For airlines, One Order does require a departure from traditional, document-heavy processes – a fundamental shift on how customer reservations and services have been historically managed.

However, based on conversations we’ve had with airlines leveraging this technology, the shift is worth the workload and vital for providing a seamless travel experience from start to end.

Data and Insights: Informed Decision-Making

In the industry, it continues to be surprising how much data is stored in inaccessible disorganised files, when data and insights play such a vital role in shaping how technology is leveraged in the airline industry.

Airlines need to leverage technology to bring these insights together to empower strategic decision-making based on real-time passenger trends, behaviours, and preferences.

Having these insights easily accessible helps airlines to not only adjust pricing strategies to optimise revenues (ensuring competitive fares for last-minute bookings), but also offer a better travel experience.

Embracing Technological Flexibility

Across the board, with evolving customer expectations come rapidly changing technology needs.

However, not every technology provider offers the flexibility and agility for airlines to evolve.

To avoid being tied into rigid technology platforms and packages – often where the airline is forced to pay for more capabilities than are needed – airlines need to explore open modular solutions.

These solutions, comprised of individual modules catering to the different functions within airline operations, give airlines the flexibility to choose the right technology aligned to the needs of the business.

The modular approach enables companies to not only adapt and scale, but also to adjust technological frameworks without a system overhaul.

With 88% of airline investment budgets set to be committed to technology by the end of 2023, it is evident that technology adoption is a priority for many.

I predict that by the end of 2027, it will be a priority for all airlines as the market continues to shift.

As airlines continue to navigate the changing skies of the industry, technology will be the route that leads the industry to a more connected, brighter, and more personalised future of travel.