Seven Airplane Innovations That Could Change How We Travel

In-flight virtual reality entertainment? Bunk beds in the cargo hold? These innovations may be the future of flight.

Emily Matchar

Emily Matchar

Innovation Correspondent

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Summer travel season is almost here, and we’re all set to fly to Dubai on Emirates’ A380, in the new first-class private suite with the shower spa and the sky bar.

Well, we can dream, anyway.

In a competitive air travel market, airlines are innovating as fast as they can, offering new designs and amenities in response to market needs and passenger desires. Some of these innovations make flying more luxurious (to those who can afford it—a first-class ticket from New York to Dubai on Emirates costs nearly $30,000). Others are intended to save on fuel costs or cram more passengers into the already cattle pen-like fuselage. Here are seven of the most interesting, amazing and downright scary recent airline innovations, for your summer travel pleasure.

Standing Seats

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Do you find economy seats too comfortable? Eschew empty spots on the subway in favor of strap-hanging? Well we’ve got an innovation for you! Airlines have been kicking around the idea of standing seats for a while now, and this year at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Germany, Italian company Aviointeriors unveiled a prototype of such a design. The Sky Rider 2.0 seats are “saddle seats,” allowing people to lean a bit of their weight on the seat while still basically, well, standing. Previous standing seat designs have been nixed by regulators, so it remains to be seen whether the Sky Rider ever takes off (sorry).

Stacked Seats

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OK, so maybe the standing seat doesn’t sound quite punishing enough? How about a stacked seat, where you’d literally be lying underneath, or on top of, your fellow passengers? Airbus has filed a patent for such an arrangement, which it euphemistically calls “mezzanine seating.” The top seats would take the place of the overhead bins, so pack light!

Self-Cleaning Seats

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Many of us are preoccupied with not getting sick on planes, hence the perennial popularity of articles with titles like “ How not to get sick on a plane .” One possible way to avoid the economy class head cold could be this new self-cleaning seat . Designed by Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH, the seat, currently under development, is impregnated with germ-killing disinfectants. The company says the seats will be available in the next year or two.

Cargo Hold Bunks and Playgrounds

airline travel innovation

Airbus is currently developing a design to turn its cargo holds into flying capsule hotels . After take-off, passengers would be able to access the hold, where they could nap in modular beds, work at pull-out desks or exercise in airborne gyms. There could even be a children’s play area, a godsend to any parent who’s ever held a squirming toddler on their lap for the length of the Atlantic. It’s still in the concept phase, so don’t expect to be getting out of your seat any time soon.

In-Flight VR

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For most of us, flying is somewhere between boring and terrifying. But what if you could pop on a virtual reality helmet and be transported to a field of daisies? Airbus has patented such a helmet , which creates an immersive environment for watching 3D movies, playing video games or simply relaxing. This is one design we could definitely get on board with (sorry again!).

Flying Double Beds and Dining Rooms

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Qatar Airways recently unveiled designs for its QSuite , with moving panels and swiveling seats that can be configured into a private dining room for four, for family meals or business meetings at 35,000 feet. Seats can also be transformed into private beds. The next time you’re heading from Sydney to Doha with four figures burning a hole in your pocket, give it a try.

A Smarter Faucet

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The E-tom Smart faucet , designed by researchers from Cranfield University in the UK, helps planes save on water, and therefore fuel. The faucets atomize water, breaking it into a fine mist that still comes out fast enough to clean hands, allowing lavatory-goers to use some 90 percent less. It also has charcoal filters to keep water pure, and can clean itself. Now if only someone could make the lavatory less claustrophobic.

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Emily Matchar

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Emily Matchar is a writer based in Hong Kong and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her work has appeared in The New York Times , The Atlantic , The New Republic , The Washington Post and other publications. She is the author of Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity .

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6 Cool Innovations That Could Change Air Travel Forever

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The imaginary airline Poppi is the creation of a design firm whose goal is to urge industry innovation. As our recent look at that idea illustrated, Poppi presents some pretty compelling concepts. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here are more ways companies are experimenting with the format. If adopted, any one of them could revolutionize the way we take to the sky.

  • Use technology to eliminate airport hassles.
  • Make flying more enjoyable.
  • Creating customized aircraft.
  • Using social media to pick your seatmates.
  • Membership pricing.
  • Airliners that run on alternative energy.

1. Use technology to eliminate airport hassles.

SITA, a multinational firm that provides information technology to the airline industry, has experimented with giving gate agents  wearable electronic devices  like smart watches and eyeglasses equipped with cameras and augmented-reality systems that display data on the lenses. In the near future, they may be able to scan your boarding pass and passport for an international flight in less than a second, simply by glancing at it. Such gadgets also could enable airline employees to provide flight information and other services to customers without having to go to access a computer terminal at a central desk. 

Dutch airline  KLM's Happy Flow program  already uses facial recognition software to identify flyers and speed them through though bag drop-off, immigration checks and boarding on international flights. Such technology may reduce logjams at the gate, and enable you to get to your seat more quickly.

2. Make flying more enjoyable.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has developed a  concept cabin  that reimagines a plane's interior as more than just rows of cramped seats. Instead of first class and economy class seating, Airbus's future cabin would have areas where passengers could engage in different types of activities — one section for business meetings, others for socializing or playing virtual reality golf and other games. There also may be a revitalizing zone where you can just sit back and chill with the help of a "smart" seat that will offer everything from a mechanized massage to aromatherapy: do you prefer pine forest or sea-breeze scents? 

3. Creating customized aircraft.

Airbus spokesperson Mary Anne Greczyn says these ideas fit with an already-existing trend in which some airlines are customizing planes. "Many airlines today are using space in their Airbus aircraft for specific customer purposes — individual sleeping cabins, showers, lavish bar areas, meeting spaces," says Greczyn. "All these exist today, and we envision more of our customers tailoring the available space on their Airbus aircraft to maximize their passengers' satisfaction."

4. Using social media to pick your seatmates.

Facebook, Twitter and other  online social networks  have become an influential part of our lives. As  marketing strategy firm WNS notes , airlines are eager to capitalize upon that connectedness. KLM, for example, is experimenting with a "Meet & Seat" program that allows you to share their social media profile with other people who'll be traveling on a flight. It even gives you an opportunity to choose a seat next to someone who has a common professional or personal interest, or who just seems like someone whom you could have an enjoyable conversation with along the way — learn more in the video below. If it's successful, expect other carriers to pick up on it.  

5. Membership pricing.

OneGo,  a startup online travel service, is offering frequent business travelers a way to avoid having to shop for the lowest fares and make air travel more like watching movies on Netflix. The company lets travelers  book an unlimited number of flights  on major U.S. airlines, in exchange for a monthly fee of $2,950. (There are cheaper regional plans as well.) "It's obviously for people who travel a lot," says spokesperson Dina Binney. For companies, it could be a way to budget their travel "in an easy and efficient way."

6. Airliners that run on alternative energy.

Flying could become cheaper if airlines could eliminate the cost of jet fuel, and in the process they'd cut greenhouse gas emissions too. Boeing, with the help of NASA funding, has been working on  a project called SUGAR Volt , which uses a hybrid electric propulsion system roughly comparable to the gasoline-and-electric battery combination in  hybrid automobiles . The aircraft manufacturer has another research project,  SUGAR Freeze , which powers a plane with liquefied natural gas, another cleaner fuel. 

Some of these ideas may turn out to be more practical than others, but one way or another, the flying public is likely to embrace big changes. Liddell thinks that they'd even be willing to give up carry-on bags — Poppi would eliminate overhead bins as an efficiency and cost-saving measure — once they see that they'll have a more comfortable flight as a result. "Consumers are far more adaptable than we give them credit for," Liddell explains. "Uber and Airbnb have dramatically changed the habits of travelers in adjacent ways by creating better experiences. And that's the key — better experiences."

A company called  Windspeed Technologies  recently unveiled a conceptual design for a plastic bubble called Skydeck that could be installed atop airliners, letting passengers sit outside the main fuselage.

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7 Airline Innovations That Will Change the Way We Fly

Solar powered airplanes? Screens on your tray table? In-flight bowling alleys? The future of flying looks pretty wild. Here are a few ideas that may, or may not, take off.

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There was a day not too long ago when seatback TVs on planes looked space-aged, the concept of a call from 30,000 feet seemed impossible, and the idea of WiFi—let alone on a plane—was completely out of the question. Today? You take those things for granted. You even complain about them if they don’t work. As for plane phones? Come and gone. 

Airline innovation has come a long way—and companies now have a new tech-savvy consumer to please. Experts are busy figuring out how to do just that. Many—from internationally renowned design firms to NASA scientists—have a hand in trying to turn big ideas into future plans. So, what’s next? Here’s what you can expect from the future of air travel—and when it might become a reality. 

Going Totally Green

airline travel innovation

When It Could Happen : Now, albeit slowly

In March, Bertrand Piccard and Andrew Borschberg will attempt  the first round-the-world flight  with a plane using only solar power. Should they suceed, it’ll be the first and biggest step toward removing fossil fuel from the air-travel equation. That means lower emissions, and likely lower operational costs for the airlines. But commercial companies aren’t the only ones looking to green-up air travel.

Look at NASA’s N+3 design developments—representing three generations beyond what we see in the skies today. You’ll notice almost zero emissions. One of these far-out designs is called the  Double Bubble . Though it would probably move slower than a commercial jet, it could cut emissions by about 70 percent. The  Sky Whale —a concept from a Spanish designer that could hold 755 people, take off vertically, and self-repair its own wings—would be even greener. It wouldn’t need to refuel because of its double fuselage and solar concepts on the wings.

New Aircraft Concepts Research, in the European Union, is also working with Airbus on a PRO green Aircraft Concept that will be a design overhaul of more eco-friendly options.  Airbus says  this model would use “drop-in fuel” with similar properties as kerosene, possessing high energy density—and enabling lower energy consumption.

Armrest Divisions

travel future of flying

When It Could Happen : Early 2015 

The  Soarigami , a device you can buy and bring with you on a plane, doubles the size of the middle armrest. It’s a simple origami-like structure made of neoprene and plastic that both divides that middle arm rest and extends its width. It will go on pre-sale in early 2015 and at just $30, it could become the next  Knee Defender . 

Another armrest solution: the Paperclip Armrest Project. Started in 2014, it aims to end the infamous armrest battle, too. As a “double decker” device, there would be an upper and lower level for two arms to rest peacefully. But Lee says “airlines are concerned about cost”—and he’s not sure how soon tiered armrests would replace those standard in today’s cabins. 

Screens, Screens, and More Screens!

When It Could Happen : In the next 10 to 20 years 

Interactive screens may replace white plastic as cabin walls and even windows, predicts Lawson. “There are various surfaces in the aircraft from the seat tray table to the overhead panels which could be used as smart surfaces to provide interaction and entertainment—or could even be used to charge your phone. Other surfaces could provide  essential passenger information  such as safety information and the nearest emergency exit,” he says.

“The competition is happening in what the interior looks like. When most people get on a plane they don’t know if it’s an Airbus or a Boeing. They care what types of seats it has, about the lighting, and the windows,” says Mavris. When a French design company recently released a  Windowless Jet Concept called IXION , claustrophobics might have rejoiced. Why? The design includes floor to ceiling views of the space the plane is flying through, but instead of looking through glass, flyers see the images on a thin OLED screen wallpapering the entire cabin.

The design concept is just that as of now: a concept. But it’s rooted in science. The designer says that the 360-degree views aren’t just cool; they’d make the plane lighter due to simpler construction and different materials. And fuel efficiency is a key driver in the aviation industry—aircraft weight has a significant bearing on fuel consumption, says Lawson. “The future will likely see the use of ever-more lightweight materials and a stripped-back approach.”

One UK company,  Centre for Process Innovation , that’s trying to lighten aircraft by replacing windows for screens claims it can have a prototype ready in a decade.

The Flying Donut

airline travel innovation

When It Could Happen : We’re not sure, but not any time soon 

When you walk onto a plane, you’re instantly crammed. A single aisle is your only space for movement. Forget about trying to pass someone—let alone a flight attendant with a cart. Innovators know this, and they’re trying to change it.

Everyone is fighting for how to make the interior of the cabin more open, says Mavris. Can you store luggage on the sides, instead of above seats, so that the middle of the plane will be more open? Can you change the shape of the aircraft to allow for more space in the middle? Airbus is seeking a patent for the design concept of the ‘Flying Donut’ that would be set up like a Lifesaver candy—with more open space and wings that come out straight from the nose of the plane instead of the sides. “When you go in to the cabin, it would be one big auditorium-like set up,” says Mavris. It could carry a lot more people, could be more efficient aerodynamically, could use less fuel, and potentially have fewer emissions, but Mavris isn’t convinced the airlines will go for it. There could be problems pressurizing, he says, and it’s quite a diversion from the current commercial model.

Convertible Seating

outside online travel future of flying

When It Could Happen : Within the next few years 

James S.H. Lee, director at Paperclip Design Limited and an expert in seating design, hopes his project—the Butterfly seat —will someday be a part of commercial flying. The Butterfly would allow flight attendants to change a seat from economy to business very quickly in between flights before you board. Both business class and economy would still exist, but the ability to make more economy seats on one flight, then more business class seats on another, could be key for the airline. 

“I used to work for the airlines—and from a business point of view, flexibility would bring huge benefits both to operations and revenue,” Lee says. Every flight has a different demand for first class and economy. There are a lot of business class demands for a flight from London to New York, for example, he says, but on a flight to the Caribbean? Not so much. So seats go wasted. With convertible seating, you would be able to purchase what you want, and the airline could change the seats to make it happen (and make money by doing so). Lee says he plans on building prototypes early next year—then seek development by mid-2017. 

iPads on Board

Air Travel Airbus Airplane Airport Aspirations Banking Blue Business Business Person Businessman Caucasian Close-up Computer Computer Monitor Confidence Contract Data Digital Tablet Finance Global Business Human Finger Human Hand Input Device Intelligence Laptop Liquid-Crystal Display Male Manager Multimedia Nautical Vessel New York City Occupation Office PC People Planning Professional Occupation Sea Skyscraper Success Tablet-pc Technology Technology Symbols/Metaphors Touch Screen Touching Trading Urban Scene Wireless Technology back lit silhouette

When It Could Happen : Now

Seatback TVs could go the way of the plane phone soon. “There are lots of emerging improvements vis-a-vis general cabin comforts and amenities,” says Patrick Smith, an airline pilot, host of the website Ask the Pilot, and author of Cockpit Confidential. One of the most promising examples: airlines handing out devices for passengers to use in-flight instead of installing screens on the backs of seats. Hawaiian Airlines, for instance, already offers iPad minis for passengers to use on some of its flight routes.

Other airlines may start urging you to bring your own iProducts on board. Many already provide entertainment at your fingertips once you log in to the airline’s WiFi. You can watch TV, movies, and send emails from your own device .

Forget paying for WiFi, too. Airlines can provide free Internet and streaming for far less than the cost of fixing clunky TV monitors—and fielding complaints.

Taking First Class to a Whole New Level

future of flying

When It Could Happen : The timeline’s fuzzy, but changes have already started to show up with cabin bars and spa-like bathrooms .

In redesigning the upper deck of the Airbus A380 (the largest passenger airplane  in the world), design firm Acumen created nine “First Apartments.” Six can even be joined together like connecting hotel rooms. “Airlines aim to be increasingly savvy at using space in the most efficient and effective way, investing heavily in creating unique layouts that provide personal space and privacy, says Nigel Lawson, creative director from Acumen.

And providing more options means more opportunity to make money. In the future on the A380, you could have bowling, says Dimitri Mavris, director of the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory at Georgia Tech. “If you’re not going to cram people together like sardines, you might as well have other things for them to do,” Mavris adds.

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A flight attendant on Buddha Air wears a protective suit and face shield during a safety drill aboard a plane in Kathmandu, Nepal.

  • CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Nano needles. Facial recognition. Air travel adapts to make travel safer

Planes and airports are deploying futuristic emerging technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

My recent plane trip from Washington, D.C. to Eugene, Oregon, didn’t feel different from a circa-2019 flight. Apart from an airport gift shop T-shirt that read “I’m sorry for what I said when we were quarantined,” the experience was familiar—even with masked passengers and half-full planes. But experts say that our future flights could be very different.

A tech revolution in the aviation industry was already in motion before the pandemic. But the medical and material demands of COVID-19 have brought urgency and velocity to the race to make passenger air travel safer. On the ground and in the air, robot cleaners, new PPE uniforms for flight attendants, and mandatory medical screenings could become standard aspects of future air travel.

Here’s how technology might change your next flying experience.

Robots keep things cleaner

Disinfecting has taken on new importance during the pandemic, with ultraviolet C (UV-C) on the frontline. UV-C is a wavelength that damages a virus’s DNA and RNA, causing it to stop replicating and die. It’s bit of science that’s been understood since the mid-20th century and used in places like hospitals to sterilize rooms and tools. Now, the travel industry is looking to harness the light to fight the spread of coronavirus.

a robot cleaning the floor at Pittsburgh International Airport

Robots clean the floor with UV light at Pittsburgh International Airport. Such ultraviolet rays can kill viruses on surfaces.

Pittsburgh International Airport was already working with local startup Carnegie Robotics to test out autonomous cleaning robots that use water pressure and chemical disinfectant before the pandemic. After the virus hit, the company offered to install a UV-C component.

The four robots look like miniature Zambonis and are named for flying heroes— Amelia , Orville, Wilbur, and Rose, for Rose Collins, the first woman granted an aviator’s license in Pennsylvania in 1929. “The traveling public loves them,” says Pittsburgh International Airport CEO Christina Cassotis. “The cleaning staff loves them because it lets them focus on other areas.”

The bots roam for eight to 10 hours a day before needing to recharge. The light, which is bright enough to damage eyes, is carefully encased to only hit the floor. The trial has gone so well that Cassotis says they are looking into more robots to clean the air train that moves between terminals and handrails.

Since UV light exposure carries cancer risks, any tools developed will have to keep both efficacy and safety in mind, according to Praveen Arany , a professor at the University of Buffalo and an expert on therapeutic uses of lasers and light.

Cleaning bots that use more traditional, Roomba-like techniques are on the job at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The Neo —a 1,000-pound, $50,000 floor-scrubber that looks like the love child of a rolling suitcase and an outboard motor—is made by Canada’s AvidBots and uses 3D technology and lasers to map its routes and divert around kiosks, food carts, or stray children.

Your face is your passport

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, airports were already investing in touchless technology to speed up the boarding experience. Now, those same non-contact tools might also prevent virus transmission.

“Existing technology will become more popular faster than expected,” says Andrew O’Connor, the vice president of portfolio management at Sita , an airport technology company. “You can use your face without having to touch things as much.”

an gate agent helping passengers behind a protective plastic shield at a boarding gate

A United Airlines gate agent helps passengers from behind a protective plastic shield at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Instead of handing over your passport or ticket, you may get your face scanned with a biometric device. Most use sensors that let a person’s unique features—the curve of an ear, the shape of a forehead—prove their identity. While airlines like Delta, Air France, and JetBlue had started to roll out biometric boarding processes before the pandemic, O’Connor says that interest is up from other airlines and airports. And even though face-recognition tools were created before face masks became prevalent, he says the technology can still identify passengers with their mugs half-covered.

While these technologies promise to make travel safer, they could threaten information security if not protected against data breaches.

(Related: Will facial recognition technology invade your privacy? The answer is complex.)

It’s not just the boarding process that’s slipping into Tomorrowland: self-service kiosks, bag drop-offs, and gates are also getting a biometric boost to minimize interactions between staff and travelers and to reduce the number of times you’ll need to whip out your identification.

Health screenings become standard

Health screenings might become part of the touchless airport experience, too. Most people have seen images of passengers getting their temps taken with handheld thermometer wands at gates or security checkpoints. But increasingly, airports are opting for (or testing out) walk-through thermal-screening cameras, which operate by detecting heat emanating from a person’s body and then estimating its core temperature. The idea with both devices is to detect people with fevers who might be infected with COVID-19. Airlines have asked the U.S. government for temperature screenings at airports to keep passengers safer and make them more confident about flying.

But experts— including the World Health Organization —point out that these scanners will miss asymptomatic individuals who have COVID-19 and those infected who have not developed a fever.

a security officer checking passengers' body temperature at the Istanbul Airport

A security officer at the Istanbul Airport uses a thermal temperature scanner to scan passengers. While the devices can help identify people with fevers, they cannot detect COVID-19.

A new device called Symptom Sense could give airlines a better idea of a passenger’s health status than a temperature reading. The contraption looks and works like the metal-detector gate travelers walk through on the way to their flights. In five seconds (and without physical contact), it gathers a passenger’s temperature, blood-oxygen levels, heart rate, and respiration rates.

(Related: How likely are you to get a virus on the train or bus? The answer may surprise you.)

Derek Peterson, the CEO of Soter Technologies, the company behind Symptom Sense, says that the tech launched in June and he’s already in talks with the airports, airlines, and the TSA about adding the device to check passengers’ vitals as part of screening procedures.

“We’re basically emulating a doctor’s visit,” Peterson says. “You want to build a layered approach to find out if someone is well or not well.”

That might even mean passengers get disinfected upon arrival. Upon landing at the Hong Kong International Airport, future visitors may have to step into a negative pressure pod that looks like a cross between a sci-fi space capsule and a small elevator. The contraption, called the CLeanTech, performs a 40-second treatment with “nano needles,” photocatalyst technology, and a sanitizing spray, all meant to protect travelers and airport staff from potential viral infections. The device was being tested earlier this year; airport spokespeople say it may be in widespread use by 2021.

Mobile apps help travel go touchless

Related: the unexpected beauty of airports.

people in the airport lounge, Vietnam

Passengers have used smartphones for more than a decade to check into flights, figure out if they’ll miss quick-turn connections, or switch seats. But mobile devices will become even more prominent in the flying-during-COVID-19 experience.

When face recognition is not available, mobile apps can interface with kiosks and gates to reduce touch. Mobile alerts could minimize crowding by pinging individual customers to board. This could help decrease crowds milling around the gate or in line on the jet bridge—a danger zone without much air circulation that puts people at risk of close, unventilated contact with others—a primary mode COVID-19 transmission.

“Whatever you can do to reduce the amount of people that are stuck there is a good idea,” says Paloma Beamer , a professor of public health at the University of Arizona.

At Miami International Airport and several other U.S. airports, motion-analytic software called Safe Distance is being installed to help passengers practice social distancing and to gather data about how people gather and move through lines. The system uses cameras to track movements and computers to crunch numbers; it’s currently just a tool for airport authorities to figure out if they need better social distancing signage or security procedures that space people out more. But it (or a similar system) could eventually be used on smart phone boarding apps or displayed on TSA dashboards.

The most significant smartphone-powered change might be a second check-in procedure. The major U.S.-based airlines are working on an industry-wide contact-tracing project , which would rely on a third-party app to collect data on passengers before they fly. Beamer, who is helping to develop a contact-tracing app for the University of Arizona, sees how this idea will be especially useful for the airline industry. “If these apps could be taken up more broadly, they could be helpful on things like flights,” she says. “There are lots of chances for chance encounters.”

Flight attendants get new uniforms

Airlines used to treat plane aisles as mini fashion runways, with smartly dressed flight attendants (think Pan Am’s stewardesses in mod blue suits circa 1971). But today’s and tomorrow’s cabin crews may be rocking PPE, or personal protective equipment. PPE is already required for attendants on some Qatar Airways, AirAsia, Thai Airways, and Philippine Airlines flights.

(Related: Want to fly and stay well? This is the safest seat on the plane.)

There’s a certain futuristic flair to some of the safety-first outfits: AirAsia’s new PPE uniforms look like flashy red HAZMAT jumpsuits; Philippine Airlines’ cabin crews now wear face shields and medical-chic white jumpsuits with a rainbow stripe on one shoulder.

Such functional fashion is fine, says Dr. Niket Sonpal, a gastroenterologist and professor at Touro College of Medicine, but flight attendants must use such garments as if they’re in a medical setting. “There has to be training on PPE,” he said. "How not to put it on, how not to fidget with it, and then how to take it off.”

The goal remains to protect both passenger and flight attendants, who are at heightened risk for COVID-19 exposure on the job. At least one flight attendant has died after contracting the virus during work training; others who have succumbed to the disease are suspected of having gotten sick on the job. Hundreds more have been hospitalized .

A full PPE getup might be overkill or “ hygiene theater, ” especially with some hospitals still struggling to keep protective gear in stock, according to Sonpal. Flight attendants and other essential workers need support from their workplaces and the people around them to follow health guidelines like wearing masks and sanitizing their hands. “There is still so much that isn’t known about this novel coronavirus,” he says. “We are flying by the seat of our pants.”

And what about the quality of the air circulating inside a plane’s cabin ? It’s a theoretical risk since the mucus membranes in your nasal passages are likely to dry out in flight, making them more susceptible to a virus. But experts believe that HEPA filters in functioning ventilation systems neutralize the virus, rendering the air (which refreshes every three minutes ) safe to breathe—ideally through a clean N95 mask .

“Technologies can indeed make us safer,” says Kacey Ernst , an epidemiologist and a professor at the University of Arizona. “But if our behaviors become riskier in response, it could cancel out the benefit of the technology.”

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  • PUBLIC HEALTH

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  • CEO Interviews

Shaping the future of travel through innovation

Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue, talks about the evolution of the airline into a travel company. Interview by Graham Newton.

airline travel innovation

Tell us about your latest financial results and what they mean for the airline going forward?

We’re very pleased with our second quarter results. Revenue doubled compared with the first quarter, which clearly demonstrates the pent-up demand that we expected. The underlying trends are positive, and we’ve also reduced our debt. It’s been a strong summer and we see some significant strides in the recovery.

Is the recovery just a matter of time or do you see roadblocks ahead?

I expect the industry recovery will be non-linear and take some time. As of August 2021, there are rising case counts of COVID-19 in the United States and in many other countries. Companies are delaying office openings and travel restrictions remain in place. So, there will be pressure in the short to medium term and it will be some time before we have any sort of stability in the industry.

But when demand comes back, it comes back quickly. We need governments to remove some of the travel restrictions they’ve imposed and to harmonize health protocol measures. But once this is corrected, the bounce back will be strong.

There’s plenty of demand there, particularly for the leisure sector. We’ve already seen the return in demand with our new flights to London from New York. I think some business travel will take longer and so some airlines may need to reposition for the future.

Do you see a fundamentally different industry in the years ahead or will 2025 see aviation that looks much as we expected pre-COVID?

The main point is that people want to fly. That remains unchanged. What airlines have to do is be flexible enough to respond to that demand.

Those airlines with more exposure to leisure have performed better because the demand has been strongest in the leisure and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) markets. The domestic market will continue to perform well in comparison to international travel because we expect some form of border restrictions lasting into 2022.

I think customers’ expectations for traveling moving forward will be changed. Enhanced cleaning protocols during the travel journey are here to stay. They will also value flexibility and so I expect airlines to continue to make it easy to cancel tickets or change flights.

Is the recent Executive Order on competition and consumer protection a step toward re-regulating the industry in the United States?

The Biden Administration has recognized that there has been a significant amount of consolidation in the industry in the United States. Four airlines now control over 80% of the domestic market. That makes it extremely difficult for new airlines to break into or expand in key hubs.

The fact is we are a fraction of the size we want to be in New York. And that is why we signed our codeshare agreement with American Airlines. It has tripled our presence at New York’s LaGuardia and doubled it at Newark. This new Northeast Alliance will bring low fares to even more people. We are codesharing on 80 routes and it has allowed us to offer a number of new destinations. It will also provide essential competition to Delta at JFK and to United at Newark.

We have to find ways for JetBlue to grow and we will be developing the alliance with American.

Why did you decide to compete in the transatlantic market?

There is significant demand between the Northeast US and the United Kingdom and Europe and it was the right time to offer customers greater choice in the transatlantic market. In fact, London is the largest market that JetBlue didn’t already fly to from New York or Boston. The transatlantic market has been characterized by high fares, especially in business class. We offer the unbeatable combination of low fares and award-winning service to our customers. Having JetBlue in the market means fares will come down across the board. That won’t be the result of the pandemic, it will be the JetBlue effect.

We needed to wait for our Airbus A321LR aircraft to be delivered and, of course, to get access to London Heathrow. That wouldn’t have been possible if the pandemic hadn’t freed up slots there.

We start serving London Gatwick from JFK in late September and will be the only carrier at Gatwick offering US service. Flights from Boston to the United Kingdom are scheduled for summer 2022.

Has your technology venture been successful and is there any particular technology or idea that has caught your attention?

JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV) is about us evolving from being an airline to being a travel company. It allows us to invest in dozens of start-ups with great ideas about the future of travel. They help us with their innovative thinking, and we help them by mentoring and growing their business.

The work we’re doing with Joby Aviation is a great example of this. They are involved in the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) sector and aim to provide commercial service by 2024. The project is providing crucial insight into this new sector of ultra-short haul and electric flying. They’re working hard and were able to become a publicly traded company in August.

JTV has also invested in Universal Hydrodgen, specializing in fueling carbon-free flight, to help us understand this important form of energy and how it may affect the travel sector.

What will it take for you to achieve your target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040?

Last year, JetBlue became the first major US airline to achieve carbon neutrality for all domestic flights and we are offsetting the CO2 emissions from all of JetBlue’s London flights throughout 2021. Last year we announced our commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Airline attention has understandably been on surviving the pandemic. But once we get through that, sustainability will be the number one issue for the industry outside safety.

It will be challenging to completely decarbonize the industry because of the nature of our business; flying aircraft that rely on fossil fuels. We must work together with manufacturers and fuel suppliers to move away from this reliance on fossil fuels to cleaner fuel and ultimately carbon-free power. The first step is sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). JetBlue is already using them in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and we will expand our use to 10% of total jet fuel use by 2030. But completely carbon-free energy sources are the only way forward and that is what we must keep in mind.

Why is diversity important to the aviation industry?

Diversity is absolutely vital. Having diversity in your workforce means you reflect the customers you serve, and it also gives the airline a better variety of skills and resources.

At JetBlue, all our frontline staff have access to programs to further their careers. There is a leadership training program, for example, and we also have frontline staff that have successfully applied to be pilots and maintenance technicians. We have similar programs in place at a number of different levels within the organization.

We have good gender diversity at the senior management level. Even so, there’s always more to do, and we’ve committed to meaningfully increasing our minority and female representation in the officer and director ranks by the end of 2025 and will continue to work at increasing diversity across the organization.

What topics do you want to tackle in your time remaining as IATA Chair?

It is a great honor to be IATA Chair and see all the hard work that is done by the IATA team.

This has been an unprecedented time in our industry and difficult to navigate. Countries were affected by the pandemic at different times and at different rates and governments across the world responded in different ways. This has led to an extremely complex situation for our industry as every country is dealing with different challenges.

As we come out of the COVID crisis and the virus becomes endemic, then sustainability will be crucial. Public opinion will be formed by industry actions rather than the strategy of individual carriers and we must stay focused on that bigger picture.

We must not replicate what has happened with COVID and have different responses trying to achieve different goals. We must view sustainability through a global lens with harmonized measures that allow airlines to operate on a level playing field.

Credit | JetBlue

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Aviation - Seven Trends That Will Reshape the Airline Industry

Airline Industry

/ Focus

Seven trends that will reshape the airline industry.

By  Ben Wade ,  Yana Topalova ,  Nicolas Boutin ,  Pranay Jhunjhunwala ,  Hean-Ho Loh ,  Tom Oertzen ,  Masao Ukon , and  Alan Wise

For leadership teams at airlines , the challenge isn’t merely to respond to the industry’s current operating environment—it’s to anticipate what’s coming and position the company to win in the future. We have identified seven trends that we believe will reshape the industry over the next five years: the customer-centricity imperative, rapid growth in the adoption of data science and advanced analytics across the value chain, the rise of sustainability concerns, an increasingly complex distribution landscape, shifts in airline fleets and networks, growth in strategic alliances and partnerships , and dramatic shifts in organizational skills, capabilities, and ways of working.

Each of these trends would be tough to manage on its own. Collectively, they demand that management teams put a proactive agenda in place that enables them to not only adapt but also to use these developments to create competitive advantage. In this way, airlines will be able to anticipate looming disruptions that could threaten their business model—and potentially even become disruptors themselves in travel and adjacent industries.

Years of Steady Growth, but the “Fasten Seatbelt” Light Is On

The airline industry has seen sustained profitability since 2010, with global profits reaching a peak of $38 billion in 2017, according to the International Air Transport Association. (See Exhibit 1.) A significant portion of the profit pool during that period has been captured by leading North American carriers, thanks to increased economies of scale, the strong dollar, and a buoyant US economy, among other factors. Globally, operating profit margins for leading players have typically been in the midteens—even exceeding 20% for some carriers. Large full-service carriers as well as ultralow-cost players such as Wizz Air, Ryanair, and Spirit have achieved high levels of profitability during this period.

Seven Trends That Will Reshape the Airline Industry | Ex 1

Demand for commercial air travel is set to increase significantly over the next ten years across all regions. The growing economies in Asia will represent the largest share of demand growth (passenger traffic in Asia is projected to grow by 85% and its share of global traffic will increase by 4.7 percentage points). We expect North America to remain relatively stable and continue to pull in the largest share of industry profits. Europe’s market landscape is likely to change the most over the next five years, with concentration and consolidation strengthening the position of the three leading airline groups (Lufthansa, IAG, and Air France-KLM) and low-cost carriers (Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz Air).

Macroeconomic and geopolitical trends—particularly slowing economic growth worldwide—have produced a mood of uncertainty. The industry’s performance has traditionally been closely linked to the overall economic cycle, and as the current expansion surpasses all others in terms of length, we expect airlines to be affected by the looming economic slowdown, rising nationalism, and trade wars. These factors will likely lead to reduced demand, lower yields, and a potential increase in the cost base as foreign-exchange rates and oil prices fluctuate—and they will elevate the importance of scenario planning as a core strategic capability for the industry.

The seven global trends that will shape the airline industry over the coming five years are critical for leadership teams to understand and put at the top their strategic agenda.

The Customer-Centricity Imperative

The customer experience at most airlines lags that of top digital-native companies in industries such as retail and media, where it tends to be far more streamlined and personalized. Airlines’ interactions with customers are traditionally focused on booking reference numbers that contain essential data about an individual flight but little information about the person flying.

In the future, airlines will build a single, coordinated view of the customer across all systems and touch points, and we expect a step-change in the degree of personalization and customer centricity offered by airlines in the next five years. Carriers will be able to leverage their customer data to construct specific offers that match customer preferences and the travel occasion. Customers will receive more tailored service before, during, and after each flight. The in-flight experience, for example, will feature entertainment options and other attributes based on detailed customer profiles, which the flight crew will be able to access. 

As airlines strive to be more customer centric, we expect travel ecosystems to grow, supported by an increased exchange of data among providers. Leading airlines will create or join ecosystems with the goal of better understanding the customer’s overall journey, rather than just the flight component, and thus providing a better experience overall. For example, if a customer’s flight is delayed, her hotel reservation will be adjusted automatically. By providing a better experience, the ecosystem will gain customers’ loyalty and garner a higher share of their spending over time. These ecosystems could transcend travel and encompass a broader set of lifestyle companies, products, and services—allowing airlines to tap into a wider customer base and maintain relationships with infrequent travelers.

Loyalty programs are a key means of becoming more customer centric, in that they capture more data and insights about customers. For this reason, we may see loyalty programs that have been previously spun out as separate businesses brought back within airline organizations. Loyalty programs will continue to evolve from simple “earn and burn” schemes into propositions akin to lifestyle membership clubs that offer more personalized service, recognition, and aspirational reward options that go well beyond travel. Finally, we may see airlines use their loyalty programs to open up new business lines and expand into entirely new products and services, as Qantas has done in Australia, for example.

To succeed, and even gain a competitive edge, carriers should take the following steps to create a streamlined and more personalized customer experience:

  • Objectively assess your current level of personalization and customer centricity—for example, gauge the extent that customer data can be shared across siloes to develop a holistic customer view, and determine how effectively these insights are used to create tailored offers and services.
  • Consider how a network of partnerships could enable you to deliver high-quality, personalized customer service.
  • Consider the role of loyalty programs when developing a compelling customer-centric proposition.

Rapid Adoption of Data Science and Advanced Analytics

Over the next five years, many airlines will continue to develop their ability to deploy advanced analytics at scale. Although the industry’s use of data and analytics has been increasing for some time, we expect this to accelerate, with use cases spanning the entire value chain from a customer’s initial travel inspiration and research through the ticket purchase and flight all the way to postflight services. (See Exhibit 2.) These use cases are enabled by the vast quantities of data available to airlines, including from third parties. While traditional sources of competitive advantage for airlines such as cost base, scale, network, and product will continue to be important, we believe that increased use of data science and advanced analytics will help airlines reinforce these sources of advantage to deliver substantial performance improvements.

Seven Trends That Will Reshape the Airline Industry | Ex 2

For example, in commercial departments, we expect airlines to use AI and machine learning to construct smart offers that combine seat and ancillary services to match each customer’s unique requirements for a specific trip. We will see changes in how offers are priced, moving away from traditional fare ladders toward continuous and dynamic pricing. Another area that will see huge changes will be marketing—algorithms will help airlines tailor messages to individual customers based on a combination of factors such as travel history, contextual variables, and customer preferences.   

Use cases for advanced analytics will extend beyond commercial activities. For example, in operations, we’ll see leading airlines using big data and AI to significantly improve their on-time performance and minimize the costs of disruption. For example, KLM has already made significant strides toward digitizing its operations to improve real-time decision making, and we expect other airlines to make similar strides in this area.

As airlines digitize their core functions, they will face the challenge of dealing with legacy technology. This is not unique to airlines. In fact, carriers can look to the leading players in industries such as retail and financial services that have successfully developed digital capabilities despite their legacy technology stack. Often this involves decoupled development, whereby new digital capabilities are built outside of the legacy system, which is gradually phased out over time. Airlines will have to make choices on how best to develop these new digital capabilities. Our expectation is that most will reduce their reliance on traditional technology providers and instead will seek a hybrid approach, enhancing their in-house capabilities while working with niche tech companies in specific areas.

To capitalize on the growing applications for data science and advanced analytics, airlines should take the following steps:

  • Ensure that data and advanced-analytics capabilities are high on the agenda and prioritize investments in this area; build a program of high-value use cases and develop a data strategy to support those initiatives.
  • Define your approach to building capabilities—for example, building them in-house, developing partnerships with niche providers, or relying on established travel technology players.

Rising Sustainability Concerns

Airlines will face growing pressure to address environmental sustainability over the next five years. We have seen this topic gain significant momentum in just the past few months, and a number of airlines have recently announced ambitious targets to tackle emissions. Pressure will continue to build: the question is when it will reach a tipping point—not if. Airlines will feel pressure from multiple stakeholders:

  • Regulators. Expect Europe to move first and take the boldest steps; France has already proposed a tax of €1.50 on economy-class tickets for departing flights to other EU countries. Governments in Asia could follow. For example, four airports in India are carbon-neutral, out of a total of five in Asia. Similarly, China has begun enacting environmental regulations in other industries, such as banning the import of plastic recyclables in 2017. On the other hand, we expect the US to remain reluctant to take any major regulatory action.   
  • Customers. Expect “flight shaming” to gain some momentum, particularly among younger, environmentally conscious travelers. It’s likely that some people in this group will begin switching to alternate travel models like high-speed rail for regional travel where possible, and perhaps eliminating air travel altogether. In the short term, however, we expect that sustainability concerns will lead to only limited pockets of impact, particularly in Europe.
  • Travel Intermediaries . Third-party entities that track airline sustainability will influence consumers’ choices and push them toward flight options with lower emissions. For example, Skyscanner influenced the purchases of millions of customers in this way in 2019. More intermediaries will start informing customers about different methods of carbon offsets to help them make better choices, and airlines will share that information as well.
  • Corporate Customers. Expect companies to respond to environmental pressure from employees and investors by radically reducing nonessential business travel and investing in technology to replace many in-person meetings. A drop in business travel, a key component of airlines’ business, would have an impact on their top line.
  • Investors. Expect investors to increasingly favor companies with sustainable operations and those making significant progress in reducing carbon emissions.

Sustainability is an industrywide issue, and we hope to see airlines starting to collaborate more to generate meaningful change. Some attempts are already underway. One such collaboration is the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), developed by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization. CORSIA aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from airline operations by 590 million to 800 million tons of CO 2 by 2040. Already, 78 countries have pledged to participate in a voluntary pilot program, although there are several notable omissions, including Russia and India. There is considerable uncertainty around exactly how airlines will achieve CORSIA’s agenda. Another cross-industry initiative is the EU’s Emissions Trading System, which aims for a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030 in the sectors it covers. The ETS is a cap and trade system that sets a limit on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted (by an individual power plant, for example, or by an individual carrier), while allowing participants to receive and buy emissions allowances.

Although airlines are gradually renewing their fleets with more efficient aircraft, the industry is unlikely to make meaningful progress until it addresses the area where environmental impact is greatest: fuel. While work on developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) continues, we don’t think that these fuels will provide a viable alternative to jet fuel in the short-to-medium term. Still in the earliest stages of development, SAF lacks scale and will require much more investment in R&D. We expect airlines, oil and gas companies, and other interested parties to come together to jointly invest in the development of SAF, as the task will be too big for any individual player to tackle on its own.

Increased efficiency and biofuels can only account for a portion of the desired reduction in airline CO 2 emissions. (See Exhibit 3.)  Subsequent improvements are likely to come from a mix of sustainability efforts including SAF, technological breakthroughs such as electrification, and carbon offsets. As airlines wait for SAF to gain commercial scale and other technologies to arrive, they will rely mostly on offsets to help reduce their carbon footprints. The current maturity of offset schemes is low, resulting in some overpriced and largely ineffective projects. Over the next five years, we expect that the demand for high-quality offset projects will prompt significant development in the emissions offset value chain. Airlines will have a choice on how to participate: buying offsets on B2B exchanges, partnering with a specialized company, or creating their own offsets.  

Seven Trends That Will Reshape the Airline Industry | Ex 3

To address rising sustainability concerns, airlines should take the following steps:

  • Develop a sustainability strategy, including a program of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, plan for a range of scenarios (such as a material reduction in demand or government action), assess potential SAF supply chain partnerships, determine how to participate in offset schemes, and demand OEM involvement in long-term aircraft innovations.
  • Start implementing no-regret moves right away, such as recycling and waste management initiatives.

An Increasingly Complex Distribution Landscape

As discussed above, the customer experience at most leading airlines trails far behind that offered by digital companies. A key underlying reason for the disparity is distribution—an area where change is coming to the airline industry, albeit slowly. Over the next five years, distribution will be increasingly digital, and airlines will continue to increase their direct share sales—particularly via mobile and the web—at the expense of channels where the economics are less attractive for them, such as retail travel agencies.

Adoption of the International Air Transport Association’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard will grow, allowing richer communication between airlines, travel agencies, and travel management companies. We expect that a significantly higher proportion of bookings will be made using the NDC standard in the next five years. But this does not mean that traditional global distribution systems will become redundant. They will also participate in NDC adoption and will remain fundamental in the future distribution landscape as content aggregators.

New direct channels are likely to grow rapidly—for example, conversational commerce through devices such Amazon’s Echo and through messaging apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp and Tencent’s WeChat. Some airlines already interact with customers postbooking via social media, and certain segments (chiefly millennials and Gen Zers) will increasingly seek flight bookings and ancillary bundles through these services.

We expect the tech giants to reshape airline distribution as well. For example, Google, along with other big players, is already well placed in the inspiration and planning elements of the customer journey, where it can take advantage of the vast quantities of data it has collected to develop personalized travel offerings. One step further, Amazon and Alibaba are already operating in the booking space—Amazon through a partnership with Cleartrip in India and Alibaba through its Fliggy travel platform. We expect both companies to continue experimenting across global markets. By partnering with airlines, Amazon and Alibaba can use ticket sales to access rich customer data and attract customers into their wider ecosystem. There are benefits for airlines as well: teaming up with tech giants can help carriers gain a foothold in new markets. For example, Singapore Airlines’ partnership with Alibaba has given it greater access to the fast-growing Chinese travel market. 

We also expect that online travel agencies will continue to broaden their existing offerings to bridge gaps that airlines have not yet filled. For example, they are increasingly creating product bundles (combining seats and different ancillary products from the airline) and providing virtual interlining capabilities, such as between airlines that are not interline partners themselves.

To succeed in an increasingly complex distribution landscape, airlines should take the following steps:

  • Ensure that that your distribution strategy is current and goes beyond the traditional booking channels, including social media and other digital channels, and create broader partnerships outside of traditional travel distributors.
  • As part of this, set a target for NDC adoption and build a plan to get there.     

Shifts in Airline Fleets and Networks

Capacity today is lower than it should be, for several reasons. First, some airlines have chosen to constrain their capacity growth in light of economic uncertainty. Second, multiple airline failures, particularly in Europe (primarily the result of fierce competition, a strong US dollar, labor unrest, and a range of issues within individual carriers), have removed capacity from the market. Third, production delays at Airbus, the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX following two fatal accidents, and ongoing 787 engine issues have all combined to reduce capacity. In general, we expect capacity growth to be somewhat subdued over the next few years, before likely increasing as these issues abate.

Over the next five years, by strategically planning the evolution of their networks and fleets, forward-looking airlines will be able to capture a number of opportunities. For example, we will see growth in smaller-gauge aircraft, including longer-range single-aisle jets and smaller twin-aisle aircraft (such as the 787 and Airbus’s A350). We expect that, in turn, this will lead to an increase in point-to-point routes, in many cases serving smaller, secondary airports. The new jets will allow airlines to serve these lower-volume routes profitably, avoiding heightened competition on connecting routes. While hubs will remain important, we foresee some degree of “dehubbing” for both full-service and low-cost carriers.

To capitalize on the shifts in airline fleets and networks, carriers should take the following steps:

  • Assess the opportunities for increased network breadth, supported by newer fleet types.
  • Given fleet and market dynamics, conduct scenario planning to determine the potential implications for your business and what actions you can take now to capitalize on opportunities or mitigate risks

Growth in Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Although the future of global alliances has been questioned in recent years, we believe they will remain in place for the foreseeable future. It is likely that we will see changes to membership, as airlines leave and/or join new alliances as a result of mergers, joint ventures, or other factors. The global alliances will be focused on providing improved service to their customers, such as ensuring a seamless experience for travelers with itineraries involving more than one carrier in the alliance.

Meanwhile, we expect to see more bilateral or multilateral agreements beyond the current global alliances, potentially including equity stakes. These agreements can help airlines strengthen their position in strategically important markets or regions, allowing them to shape the competitive landscape rather than responding to changes forced upon them.

To take advantage of the growth in strategic alliance and partnerships, airlines should take the following steps:

  • Proactively identify partnership opportunities as a way to establish or strengthen your position in new markets.
  • Accelerate work within alliances to provide customer service innovations.
  • Anticipate potential competitor moves and their implications for your business—and develop plans now to respond.

Dramatic Shifts in Organizational Skills, Capabilities, and Ways of Working

The rise of advanced analytics and the increasing digitization of core airline functions will have a significant effect on how airlines manage talent in the future. We expect to see fewer people in some job families and functions—such as call centers, airport operations, and traditional inventory and pricing roles in revenue management—and an increased need for other skills, particularly data scientists, designers, and software engineers.

As airlines look for ways to attract new digital talent, we expect them to rethink their recruiting strategies, employee value propositions, and even office locations in order to become more attractive places to work. We will see more airlines forming partnerships with travel and tech startups to supplement in-house talent and capabilities. More airlines will run incubator programs (like IAG’s Hangar 51) to source both ideas and talent.

In addition, we expect competition for frontline talent to continue. For example, pilot shortages will likely remain an issue. The need to attract pilots will be most acute in Asia, where demand and capacity will grow rapidly. That shortage will lead to aggressive competition among airlines, higher salaries for existing pilots, the poaching of pilots from competitors, and subsidized pilot training to help fill the talent pipeline.

In terms of internal ways of working, our clients often highlight a lack of collaboration among siloed functions as an issue. We expect more airlines to experiment with agile ways of working and cross-functional teams in an attempt to increase their speed to market and boost customer and employee satisfaction. New-product development and commercial activities (requiring close collaboration between, say, marketing, sales and revenue management) are prime use cases to test agile ways of working in airlines.

To build new skills, capabilities, and ways of working, airlines should take the following steps:

  • Develop your talent strategy: Which capabilities do you have today, which capabilities will you need in the future, and how can you effectively bridge that gap?
  • Update the brand and employee value proposition to attract digital talent.
  • Run agile ways of working pilots in pockets of the organization and apply lessons broadly.

The last decade brought a sustained run of profitability to the global airline industry, but carriers must expect that the next five years will be tougher. The seven trends described above will dramatically change how airlines operate. Management teams have a choice: they can try to stick with a business-as-usual approach, reacting only in hindsight to those developments, or they can take proactive steps—starting today—to adapt to and shape the future of the industry.

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Four Groundbreaking Innovations Transforming the Airline Industry This Month

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Welcome to the first edition of the Airline-Tech Innovation Radar, where we spotlight the latest technological advancements reshaping the airline industry.

Today’s article delves into the most exciting innovation launches from February 2024. In the past month, we have pinpointed four standout innovations poised to redefine the landscape of Airline Tech.

Let's explore each innovation in detail.

Innovation #1: Innovating Airport Operations With 3D Visualization

Airline-Tech-Radar-1

The unveiling of Apple's VisionPro headset has captured the imagination of the tech world, potentially marking the dawn of a new era in consumer devices. Yet, its implications stretch far beyond just consumer appeal, particularly in the B2B sector. In fact, the mixed reality capabilities of the VisionPro might find their most immediate and impactful applications within professional contexts, especially within the aviation industry.

ForeFlight, a Boeing subsidiary, has swiftly capitalized on the capabilities of Apple’s VisionPro to introduce “Voyager” —an application that transforms airport operations into a 3D immersive experience. This way, Voyager could become a practical tool that provides real-time insights into airport dynamics. Through the spatial computing power of VisionPro, “Voyager” crafts a detailed three-dimensional airport environment that users can explore in real-time, offering an unprecedented level of engagement with live flight operations.

What sets the tool apart is its ability to incorporate satellite imagery, high-resolution terrain data, and live traffic updates, effectively bringing airport landscapes to life in the palm of your hand. This immersive experience is presented on a virtual floating disk, offering panoramic views from any perspective. Whether selecting from a list of prominent airports or searching for any global location, users gain a real-time projection of nearby airports, providing a comprehensive operational overview at a glance.

While initially appealing to aviation enthusiasts, the potential applications of Voyager extend far beyond operational enhancements for the aviation industry. By providing a holistic, real-time view of airport activities, it promises to streamline airport processes. This could significantly improve the coordination of various stakeholders involved in airport operations, potentially optimizing the efficiency of critical procedures such as the aircraft turnaround .

Innovation #2: Virgin Australia's Baggage Tracking Revolution

Airline-Tech-Radar-2

Virgin Australia has embarked on a mission to tackle one of the most persistent frustrations in air travel: baggage tracking. Recognizing the urgent need for innovation in baggage management ( see our previous analysis ), characterized by increasing mishandled luggage rates, Virgin Australia has taken significant strides forward.

The airline has enhanced its baggage tracking capabilities, granting passengers unprecedented transparency over their luggage whereabouts throughout their journey. This initiative, initially trialed in May 2023 , has been expanded across Virgin Australia's entire network, encompassing both domestic and international flights.

Now, through the Virgin mobile app, customers can track their luggage in real-time on any route and opt to receive updates at key stages of their bags' journey. This improvement in customer service is reflected in the tool's popularity; it's been utilized over 1.3 million times since its introduction.

The direct, customer-focused approach to solving the baggage dilemma underlines Virgin Australia's broader commitment to innovation. Alongside enhancing baggage tracking, the airline has also made notable improvements in its customer service. This is evidenced by a significant reduction in call center volumes and average wait times, as Simple Flying reports .

Innovation #3: AirAsia's Leap into the Experience Economy

Airline-Tech-Radar-3

The third innovation we're spotlighting this month has also been born within the internal innovation departments of an airline, in this case, AirAsia. The carrier is already renowned for its expansive vision of building a Super App and becoming more than just an aviation provider. This ambition crystallizes in the launch of Movetix , a novel ticketing platform developed in partnership with Coras, a leader in global ticket distribution.

Movetix is designed to revolutionize how travelers plan, book, and combine their flight tickets, offering access to over 10,000 global events and activities. This extensive range of options is now directly accessible via the AirAsia Super App, alongside flights, hotels, and transportation services, ensuring a seamless travel experience from a single digital touchpoint.

What sets Movetix apart is not just its integration within AirAsia's ecosystem but its strategic alignment with the growing Experience Economy. By significantly expanding its ancillary service offerings into the domain of events and activities,  AirAsia is venturing into an entirely new category of travel-related services. Such a move is in line with the market trend of rapidly rising ancillary offerings . As well, this is a bold statement by AirAsia on the future direction of airline ancillaries, positioning the airline at the forefront of integrating the broader travel experience within its digital platform.

Innovation #4: Revolutionizing Inflight Ancillaries on Icelandair's Flights

Airline-Tech-Radar-4

Shifting the spotlight to the operational side of airline ancillaries, our fourth innovation of the month comes from Omnevo , a German tech startup, in collaboration with Icelandair. Together, they've introduced a cutting-edge electronic point of sale (ePOS) system designed to transform inflight service by enhancing operational efficiency and elevating the passenger experience.

This next-gen ePOS system equips airline crews with live inventory updates, ensuring they're always informed about the availability of meals and products onboard. This eliminates the all-too-common issue of running out of meal choices and allows for more accurate and dynamic inventory management.

Beyond inventory control, the system enhances customer service by offering combo meal options, integrating loyalty payments, and even allowing for preordered meal seat maps and an allergen filter. This means crew members can provide personalized service with greater ease, catering to the specific needs and preferences of each passenger.

Wrapping Up February's Radar

That concludes our February edition of the Airline-Tech Innovation Radar. While the airline industry is buzzing with many more new product launches and innovative collaborations, these four stood out to us due to their significant impact on airline retail and operations.

Make sure to stay tuned for our next edition, where we'll continue to spotlight the most exciting innovations, helping you stay ahead of the latest Airline Tech innovations. 

For a deeper understanding of our selection criteria and the conceptual setup of the Innovation Radar, we invite you to review our introduction from last month . 

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Aviation X Lab to reinvent the next era of air travel

Unique partnership between five global aviation giants to impact one billion people.

Aviation is a cornerstone of the UAE’s economy, supporting around 800,000 jobs and contributing to the economy US$47.4 billion, which is set to increase nearly three-fold by 2037. Dubai is looking to mitigate the challenges in the aviation ecosystem, and we have a laser-sharp focus on the evolution of technology and innovations that impact the industry, communities, future generations and our planet. We want to look far beyond aviation as it exists today and embrace the innovations waiting to happen, the next set of Big Ideas in the aviation space. Aviation X Lab will identify, support, fund and make these innovations accessible globally. Our aim is to transform human mobility.”

airline travel innovation

Dubai, UAE, 30 October 2019 – Aviation X Lab, the ambitious aviation-specific incubator that brings some of the largest global pioneers under one umbrella, was unveiled at Area 2071 earlier in the week. Aviation X Lab establishes a long-term partnership between Emirates and Airbus, Collins Aerospace, GE Aviation, and Thales with an aim to enhance the travel experience. Telecom provider du has signed on as its Digital Innovation Partner.

In partnership with Dubai Future Foundation, Aviation X Lab aims to innovate and create the ne x t era of aviation with its bold vision to positively impact the lives of one billion people.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline & Group said: “Aviation is a cornerstone of the UAE’s economy, supporting around 800,000 jobs and contributing to the economy US$47.4 billion, which is set to increase nearly three-fold by 2037.* Dubai is looking to mitigate the challenges in the aviation ecosystem, and we have a laser-sharp focus on the evolution of technology and innovations that impact the industry, communities, future generations and our planet.

“We want to look far beyond aviation as it exists today and embrace the innovations waiting to happen, the next set of Big Ideas in the aviation space. Aviation X Lab will identify, support, fund and make these innovations accessible globally. Our aim is to transform human mobility.”

Aviation X Lab announced its first-ever challenges with the deadline for submissions set in early 2020:

Challenge 1 : carbon negative aviation industry. Although the aviation industry is responsible for just 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, the challenge is based on the premise that airlines produces 115gm of CO 2 per passenger km, which is 859 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions per year. The challenge is to reduce this by 100gm or 87% to 15gm of CO 2 per passenger km by 2030.

Challenge 2 : Airports to Airportals. While the travel industry is projected to double in the next 15 years, adding 3.4 billion new travellers, the current model of airports is a barrier to passenger growth. The challenge is to rethink the airports’ model to achieve metrics of 10 passengers per M2 of airport infrastructure with a 10-minute maximum transition time between landside and airside.​

Aviation X Lab is inviting and reaching out to start-ups, innovators, academics, NGOs, activists and corporates globally to participate in the challenges. The incubator will select teams and bring them to Dubai to co-create, experiment and develop prototypes at their premises in Area 2071. In the next phase, up to four teams will be shortlisted, and invited to pitch to investors and venture capitalists for additional funding.

The opening event witnessed demos of three key products – one from Thales and two from Emirates.

Thales showcased how Solo, its virtual assistant powered by Thales TrUE AI (Transparent, Understandable, and Ethical AI), could help increase safety and support the pilot in every decisive moment during flight. In the demo, Solo leveraged every available data to permanently provide the crew with the most efficient trajectory to optimise flight efficiency and passenger comfort.

Emirates demonstrated two ground-breaking solutions incorporating AI technology. One supports an important sustainability goal – reducing food waste. The technology provides real-time predictions and recommendations that ensure customers get their first choice inflight, while minimising quantities of unconsumed food. Bahja, an app created by a team of UAE Nationals, incorporates facial recognition technology to help measure employee happiness, and provides real-time feedback. The app encourages employees to share their motivations with the user community, contributing to a happier workplace, and therefore happier customers.

Aviation X Lab will work in cycles of 12 months with five key active phases: launching challenges; sourcing start-ups globally; validating concepts; exploring rapid feasibility, and sourcing funding. Through this journey, X Lab will offer hands-on logistics support, research, resources, peer feedback, mentorship, and close collaboration.

Aviation X Lab was founded in October 2017 with an MOU signed in the presence of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. 

*stats from IATA

Click here to view the video on Aviation X Lab. Visit www.theaviationxlab.com

About Area 2071

Area 2071 is a creative ecosystem to design the future that brings together government, creative individuals, businesses, and people from all walks of life. The name Area 2071 originates from the UAE Centennial Plan 2071, the naming of which signifies 100 years since the formation of the United Arab Emirates. Through its vision and objectives, UAE Centennial Plan 2071 seeks to invest primarily in the youth of the UAE and to work for UAE to be the best nation in the world by 2071. For more information please visit  http://area2071.ae/

About Emirates

Emirates is the world’s largest international airline with a global network of 158 destinations in 85 countries across six continents. Emirates operates 268 modern aircraft and is the world’s largest operator of the Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s. Luxurious amenities, regionally inspired gourmet cuisine, an award-winning inflight entertainment system – ice – and unmatched hospitality from its iconic multilingual cabin crew from over 135 nationalities have made Emirates one of the world’s most recognised airline brands.

About Airbus

Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2018 it generated revenues of € 64 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.

About GE Aviation

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components, integrated digital, avionics, electrical power and mechanical systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings and is part of the world's Digital Industrial Company with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. For more information, visit us at  http://www.ge.com/aviation . Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/GEAviation  and YouTube at  http://www.youtube.com/user/GEAviation .

About Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industry. Created in 2018 by bringing together UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins, Collins Aerospace has the capabilities, comprehensive portfolio and expertise to solve customers’ toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market. For more information, visit CollinsAerospace.com .

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 80,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2018 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto). Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations — connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — technologies that support businesses, organisations and governments in their decisive moments.

Operating under the steadfast umbrella of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), du is an integral driver of the UAE’s economic, social and digital transformation. Thriving on digitally innovating all facets of the contemporary telecom experience, we touch the lives of millions of customers everyday as a dedicated enabler of connectivity, continuity and growth across consumer and enterprise segments. Whether delivering state-of-the-art Smart City infrastructure, bespoke enterprise ICT solutions, government communications, secure data solutions, or the very best in home entertainment and value, we are a reliable telco and ICT player shaping the future of communication for a more connected tomorrow.

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Aviation X Lab to reinvent the next era of air travel

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Simple Flying

Delta launches innovation lab for sustainable technology disruptors.

The carrier hopes to attract startups through more than financial investments.

While things have been pretty quiet over the holidays, in one of the first major sustainability-related announcements of the year, Delta Air Lines said Thursday it would launch a first-of-its-kind airline innovation lab, called the Sustainable Skies Lab (or The Lab, for short). The carrier intends for this collaboration with tech disruptors to accelerate research, design, and testing for a more sustainable future of air travel.The Delta innovation lab was announced during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and is, thus far, unique in the airline industry in that it will go beyond financial investment and instead also contribute the carrier's expertise and time. In Delta's words, this will ensure that startup disruptors will want to test their technologies alongside and launch them in partnership with the airline.The Lab will be led by a council, which includes senior leaders from Technical Operations, Flight Operations, Fleet , Fuel, Operations & Customer Center, Inflight Service, and Airport Customer Service, along with Pam Fletcher, Delta's Chief Sustainability Officer. Fletcher commented on the new initiative,

“Delta Sustainable Skies Lab is about pairing the operational expertise of our teams with innovators to inspire new ideas and spur industry advancement – it’s a place to showcase advancements and a movement to galvanize everyone with a stake in creating the more sustainable future of flight.”

rendering of lab

She further added,

“This work is imperative for our planet and our business. We’ve seen how critical human connection is to thrive – and how travel is the great enabler. As we make progress toward our sustainability goals, we want to make sure our customers will feel as good about flying as they do about the connections made with the people and places we take them to.”

Combining startup energy with industry expertise

Delta believes that The Lab will attract the next generation of “doers” who evolve how airlines think about decarbonization . New startups and partners will join already-established industry experts, including leading eVTOL developer Joby Aviation and behemoth aerospace OEM Airbus, and profit from research partnerships such as the one between Delta and MIT.

In order to showcase the work of not only The Lab, but all of Delta's sustainability work and innovations, the carrier will set up what it calls the Engagement & Ideation Studio experiences at its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. This will feature interactive digital walls, virtual reality stations, experiential mock-ups, and more, while also providing a space for stakeholders to meet and collaborate on new and ongoing ideas.

Retaining investment in-house

Of course, airlines supporting startups is not new in and of itself. For instance, JetBlue Ventures invests millions of dollars in new technology that can potentially enhance or even disrupt airline operations. Meanwhile, for example, JetBlue made a major investment in Joby, which has since partnered with Delta to create a zero-emission air taxi network. This might be exactly the kind of thing Delta wants to avoid in reverse when it says it wants to be the airline of choice for the startups it is going to support to actually implement their technologies.

Want to know more about sustainability in aviation ?

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Executive Q&A: Accelerating the Airline Industry Through Digital Innovation

IBM + Skift

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October 27th, 2022 at 10:00 AM EDT

Airlines are leveraging technology that empowers employees to provide better customer experiences, which in turn drives profitability. But they shouldn’t be content only to solve today’s problems ​​— an integrated digital strategy is key to building the foundation for unique opportunities in the not-so-distant future.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Airlines that understand the intrinsic link between the customer and employee experiences are in a prime position to drive higher revenue growth. To improve efficiency in air travel — which is crucial, as passengers have seen in recent months — airlines must rethink how they use technology to innovate the customer and employee experience not only during this recovery period but also into the future. However, not all airlines have grasped, or at least haven’t executed, this central concept.

SkiftX recently spoke with Dee Waddell, global managing director for travel and transportation at IBM, about how technology can empower airline employees and customers, how an integrated data strategy can drive future profitability, and what role artificial intelligence (AI) will play now and in the not-so-distant future.

SkiftX: What are some pain points airlines are currently experiencing, and how can technology help address them?

Dee Waddell: There is a significant legacy that is hampering the industry. An airline may have 25 or more different customer profile records, whether from its loyalty program, website, or call center. A lot of work needs to be done to ensure all of this data is operationally ready and able to be leveraged by artificial intelligence. Making sure this data is seamlessly integrated throughout the entire enterprise is a massive undertaking.

Irregular operations are a major concern right now in the airline industry as it relates to passenger experience and optimization. Airline business leaders and employees are being asked to do more with less. Airlines are trying to use data to drive decisions and optimize resources and achieve on-time performance, completion rates, and turnaround time, but the data is often unusable or unsearchable.

Much of this is also due to current challenges around hiring talent. We’ve helped airlines outsource their hiring and human resources operations and use technology to train workers, whether they’re in-station, onboard, under the wing, or in corporate headquarters. Airlines need to make sure the right number of employees are in place so they can complete all of their flights and ensure a good customer experience.

Finally, airlines need to consider how they can integrate their loyalty offerings with their omnichannel and platform approach to provide better personalization, flexibility, and intuitive design in a cloud-based, mobile-first environment with ecosystem partners to enhance customer experience. We helped Air Canada do just that when we recently worked with their digital team to rethink and rebuild their web and mobile interface, allowing the airline’s Aeroplan loyalty program to be fully integrated into their digital experience.

SkiftX: How are the customer and employee experiences linked, and what is IBM doing in this space?

Waddell: Employee experience improves the customer experience — and airlines that understand this concept are driving higher revenue growth. This goes way beyond expanding existing software tools to employees. Instead, airlines need to think about how they can use technology to invest in and empower their employees and truly put the work in to understand their key issues and concerns when it comes to elevating their effectiveness and productivity around the customer experience.

We have a unique partnership with Apple that has allowed us to provide human-centric solutions on iOS. We have about 15 different iOS ready-made applications that airlines can adopt and customize to their individual needs for their employees — whether they’re pilots, flight attendants, ramp, or maintenance workers — that allow them to communicate with and access the same data. For example, if something is not functioning correctly, it’ll be communicated onboard to both the pilot and the onboard staff so they can let passengers know.

In the case of one installation for Lufthansa , we worked with ground ops staff to create an iOS app that empowered them with real-time information, stitching together a variety of back-end systems into a single easy-to-use interface. It helped improve flight operations efficiency, speed up passenger boarding, and cut costs by avoiding delays, allowing passengers to enjoy a smoother experience.

SkiftX: When it comes to artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, what solutions do you see being realistically adopted in the near term? What’s in development or on the horizon for more of a five or 10-year timeline?

Waddell: Having a seamless, consistent, and mature data asset ecosystem — which includes a data strategy and architecture and an integrated data operating model optimized for real-time use — is absolutely critical when it comes to decision-making around workflow, coding empowerment, and customer journeys. I don’t think airlines prioritize this as much as they should since they won’t be able to take advantage of the opportunities that artificial intelligence and other new technologies will bring down the line without improving their data maturity.

Another solution that I see a bit further out on the horizon is leveraging quantum technology, which has some interesting use cases within the travel and transportation space, particularly in solving complex problems around irregular operations, network planning, or demand forecasting.

SkiftX: How is technology supporting sustainability goals in the travel and transportation sectors?

Waddell: Moving from data centers to the cloud, taking advantage of green data centers, working with cloud providers that prioritize sustainability, and optimizing next-generation technologies like the hybrid cloud are all ways technology is helping push sustainability forward. Another big one is providing travelers with information about the environmental impact of the products and services they choose. We have a portfolio which can enable environmental scoring and measurements, optimize asset and resource consumption, and ultimately drive decarbonization and operationalization of their journey to the sustainable business model.

SkiftX: How do you see technology solutions driving profitability in the travel and transportation sectors for both immediate recovery and longer-term investments?

Waddell: I see a lot of promise in the platform model, which is based on companies expanding beyond their own business to offer additional products and services offered by ecosystem partners. For example, a traveler could make a restaurant reservation or purchase a golf outing when booking their ticket through an airline’s app and pay for it via their airline loyalty points, which are stored in their Apple Wallet.

We could see more of this in the metaverse down the line — which travel companies should consider as Generation Z becomes a more dominant travel audience and concerns around sustainability grow. I see a lot of potential here, and I’m hoping we have a broader discussion around what’s possible in the next generation and how we move towards that pragmatically.

For more information about IBM’s solutions for the travel and transportation industry, visit https://www.ibm.com/industries/travel-transportation .

This content was created collaboratively by IBM and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX .

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Tags: airline innovation , airline technology , airlines , ibm , SkiftX Showcase: Technology , technology , travel tech , travel technology

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Top 9 Travel Trends & Innovations in 2024

How are the latest trends in the travel industry reshaping trip planning and enhancing tourist experiences in 2024? Explore our in-depth industry research on the top 9 travel trends based on our analysis of 3500+ companies worldwide. These trends include AI, immersive tourism, IoT, contactless travel & more!

Technological advancements in the travel industry meet the growing demand for personalized experiences, safety, and sustainability. Post the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging travel trends mark a shift towards contactless travel through digital payments, self-check-ins, and more. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain are automating various hospitality and travel-related operations.

For instance, smart hotels make use of internet-connected devices to remotely control rooms. Further, businesses offer virtual tours by adopting extended reality (XR) technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Travel companies also leverage data analytics to personalize marketing. At the same time, traveler assisting solutions like chatbots and voice technology aid them in booking accommodation and optimizing journeys. These travel trends improve the overall profitability of the tourism industry and enable it to make operations more sustainable and safe.

This article was published in July 2022 and updated in February 2024.

Innovation Map outlines the Top 9 Travel Trends & 18 Promising Startups

For this in-depth research on the Top 9 Trends & Startups, we analyzed a sample of 18 global startups and scaleups. The result of this research is data-driven innovation intelligence that improves strategic decision-making by giving you an overview of emerging technologies & startups in the travel industry. These insights are derived by working with our Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform , covering 2 500 000+ startups & scaleups globally. As the world’s largest resource for data on emerging companies, the SaaS platform enables you to identify relevant startups, emerging technologies & future industry trends quickly & exhaustively.

In the Innovation Map below, you get an overview of the Top 9 Travel Trends & Innovations that impact travel & tourism companies worldwide. Moreover, the Travel Innovation Map reveals 3 500+ hand-picked startups, all working on emerging technologies that advance their field.

Top 9 Travel Trends

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Immersive Tourism
  • Internet of Things
  • Contactless Travel
  • Big Data & Analytics
  • Post-Pandemic Tourism
  • Tour Premiumization

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Click to download

Tree Map reveals the Impact of the Top 9 Travel Trends

Based on the Travel Innovation Map, the Tree Map below illustrates the impact of the Top 9 Travel Industry Trends in 2024. Startups and scaleups are enabling contactless travel using technologies like biometrics, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and near-field communication (NFC). This is due to increasing health and hygiene concerns post the pandemic. The use of AI in tourism ensures hassle-free trip planning while AR and VR allow tourists to virtually visit various locations and excursions. IoT increases visibility into tourism industry operations and allows passengers to track their luggage more efficiently. Further, the demand for personalized and luxurious travel is rising. Several startups enable recreational space travel as well as offer sustainable travel options to passengers.

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Global Startup Heat Map covers 3 635 Travel Startups & Scaleups

The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the global distribution of the 3 635 exemplary startups & scaleups that we analyzed for this research. Created through the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, the Heat Map reveals that the US, Europe, and India see the most activity.

Below, you get to meet 18 out of these 3 635 promising startups & scaleups as well as the solutions they develop. These 18 startups are hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.

Travel-trends-innovation-Heat-Map-StartUs-Insights-noresize

Interested in exploring all 3500+ travel startups & scaleups?

Top 9 Travel Trends in 2024

1. artificial intelligence.

Hotels employ intelligent chatbots, powered by AI, to provide quick and personalized responses to traveler inquiries. These chatbots simplify the booking process and gather customer reviews, aiding potential travelers in making informed decisions. Moreover, AI-based robots enhance the customer experience by automating hotel disinfection and delivering room service.

At airports, these robots guide travelers and assist with luggage handling. Facial recognition technology, driven by AI, expedites identity verification at airports, enhancing security and offering a swift alternative to traditional methods. Startups are developing AI-powered trip planning solutions, optimizing journeys, and personalizing travel experiences.

Travel Professor develops a Travel Chatbot

UK-based startup Travel Professor offers an AI-enabled chatbot for travelers. The startup’s chat widget software monitors multiple flight deals and notifies users when their preferences match. It also provides travel destination recommendations and flight price alerts. This allows travelers to book economical flights and have a budget-friendly tourism experience.

Pneuma Travel facilitates Travel Planning

US startup Pneuma Travel develops a voice-assisted digital agent, Sarah , to streamline the process of travel planning. This assistant, powered by AI, excels in arranging flight and accommodation bookings and assists travelers in discovering a variety of activities. Sarah , available round the clock, provides continuous support for all travel-related inquiries.

Moreover, Sarah customizes travel options according to individual preferences and budgetary constraints. The agent further enhances the travel experience by providing insights into local attractions in unfamiliar cities. Importantly, Sarah enables real-time modifications to travel plans, in compliance with specific airline policies, thereby minimizing waiting times for users.

2. Immersive Tourism

Immersive tourism caters to the growing demand for meaningful experiences among travelers, leveraging AR, VR, and mixed reality (MR). VR simulates original locations through a computer-generated environment, allowing tourists to virtually explore destinations. It provides travelers with a comprehensive 360-degree tour of points of interest.

AR enhances the travel experience with interactive elements such as navigation maps and ads. Travel companies employ AR and VR-based gamification to heighten tourist attractions. Moreover, these technologies enable hotels and resorts to present amenities and rooms in an engaging, interactive manner.

VR Travel Expo offers VR-based Travel Plans

US startup VR Travel Expo develops a VR travel application to transform the way people research and book travel. The application enables users to plan their vacations more efficiently. It provides an engaging platform for users to explore and expand their knowledge of the world. Moreover, it employs 3D geospatial technology that creates real-time digital twins of the world. This further enhances the travel planning experience.

AR Tour makes AR Glasses

Italian startup AR Tour offers AR-powered tours. The startup’s AR glasses superimpose reconstructed images of archaeological ruins to show how the site originally was. Its tour informs the tourists about the site’s history and significance via an audio-visual package. Moreover, the startup designs lightweight AR glasses to prevent motion sickness among tourists, improving convenience.

3. Internet of Things

IoT generates ample data that tourism companies leverage to personalize services in their subsequent visits. Hotels use IoT sensors to enable smart rooms that automate room lighting, temperature, and ambiance control, enhancing guest comfort. These sensors adjust appliances in vacant rooms, conserving energy and reducing the building’s carbon footprint.

Startups harness IoT to deliver location-specific information to customers, including real-time luggage tracking via IoT tags, minimizing lost items. Airlines also incorporate IoT-based solutions into seats, monitoring passenger temperature and heart rate for proactive health management.

Altitude enables Smart Hotels

New Zealand-based startup Altitude creates an IoT-based hotel software and hardware to develop smart hotels. The startup makes self-service kiosks to automate reservations, room up-gradation, payments, as well as check-in and check-out. Its hotel management platform further enables contactless engagement with guests. Additionally, Altitude’s mobile keys allow guests to open doors using mobile phones, providing convenience and saving time for travelers.

Smart Tour provides Smart Itineraries

Brazilian startup Smart Tour offers smart itineraries using IoT and quick response (QR) codes. The startup recommends travel routes and destinations based on the user’s preference in real-time. This facilitates a seamless experience for travelers. Besides, the user-generated data enables tourism managers to better understand consumer behavior and indulge in proximity marketing. The startup also offers a contact tracing solution to monitor COVID-19 infected travelers and ensure public safety.

4. Contactless Travel

Travelers benefit from contactless recognition technologies like retina scanning, which replace traditional travel documents, speeding up passenger identification and reducing airport queues. QR codes offered by travel companies allow tourists to access relevant information on their mobile devices, enhancing engagement.

Hotels have introduced contactless self-check-ins, enabling visitors to arrange services before arrival. Additionally, contactless payment modes are available in hotels and restaurants for swift and secure transactions. Moreover, wearable devices are transforming the travel experience by providing real-time notifications and touch-free access to services and information.

Loxe designs Smart Hotel Keys

US-based startup Loxe makes smart mobile keys for hotels. The startup’s smartphone app replaces key cards with contactless mobile keys that allow users to unlock doors using smartphones. It also reduces operational costs incurred in the manufacturing of conventional keys or plastic cards. Moreover, the startup designs a Bluetooth retrofit module that converts normal door locks into mobile-ready door locks. This allows hotel owners to easily convert their existing locks into smart ones without additional expenses while improving guest safety and convenience.

Avendi provides Contactless Payment

Singaporean startup Avendi offers contactless and cashless payments for travelers. The startup allows tourists to accumulate expenses throughout their trip and pay at the end of the journey. Avendi’s app utilizes QR codes to add all the billed expenses and shown through its dashboard. The user settles the tab amount in the preferred currency, preventing the inconvenience of cash withdrawal or credit card payments.

5. Big Data & Analytics

Big data empowers travel companies with customer trends for strategic marketing. Analyzing traveler behavior, they offer tailored recommendations for hotel bookings, cab hires, flight reservations, and ticket purchases.

Predicting future demand is another advantage of big data and analytics, helping hotels and airlines identify peak periods to optimize revenue. Advanced analysis of transactional data aids in detecting cyber fraud, and safeguarding sensitive customer information such as credit card details and biometric data.

CheckandPack creates a Travel Platform

Dutch startup CheckandPack offers a big data travel platform. It runs marketing campaigns to gather traveler data and understand tourism trends. Based on these insights, the platform enables businesses to approach travelers with a customized appeal. It also provides travelers with holiday planning.

3Victors provides Travel Data Analytics

US-based startup 3Victors offers travel data analytics. The startup’s product, PriceEye Suite , proactively monitors the prices of numerous airlines to provide insights into competitor prices. It creates a dashboard to display travelers’ location of interest, allowing travel airlines to better manage their revenue and pricing strategy.

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6. Post-Pandemic Tourism

Post-pandemic tourism focuses on safe, sustainable, and flexible travel options, responding to evolving traveler preferences and health guidelines. Enhanced health and safety protocols, including regular sanitization and contactless services, become standard in airlines and hotels, ensuring traveler confidence.

Destinations and operators emphasize outdoor and less crowded experiences, catering to a heightened demand for nature-based and wellness travel. Flexible booking policies and trip insurance gain prominence, offering peace of mind amid uncertainties. Sustainable travel gains traction, with tourists and businesses prioritizing environmental impact and community well-being.

GOPASS Global enables Pre-travel Risk Management

Singaporean startup GOPASS Global provides a travel risk analytics platform against COVID-19. It analyzes the biosecurity risk elements involved in a trip, such as border restrictions, quarantine requirements, airport type, and airline transit points or seating in real-time. This allows travelers to assess risk factors and plan their trips accordingly.

Moreover, the startup creates world maps displaying information regarding COVID-prone areas, testing areas, and vaccine coverage. This provides travelers with a preview of the current situation, allowing them to ensure safety during business and leisure travel.

Workcations enables Work from Anywhere

Indian startup Workcations provides properties at tourist destinations for remote-working individuals. It offers amenities like internet connectivity, food, and a quiet ambiance, allowing tourists to work in a peaceful environment without hindrance. This increases employee productivity, motivation, and retention.

7. Tour Premiumization

Hyper-personalization in travel experiences is on the rise, with tourists eager to immerse themselves in diverse cultures. Luxury travelers enjoy tailored experiences and intuitive services through tour premiumization. Health and wellness packages offered by travel startups help tourists unwind.

These retreats enhance health and offer detoxifying food options. Space tourism is another exciting development, offering leisure or research trips to space. Lastly, travel startups are fostering customer loyalty and building strong relationships through membership or subscription models.

STOKE provides Space Tour

US-based startup STOKE facilitates space travel using everyday-operable rockets. The startup’s rockets are reusable and deliver satellites to any desired orbit. This enables on-demand access to space, paving way for space tours for exploration, recreation, and research. The startup also emphasizes the economical and rapid development of its hardware for feasible spacecraft launches, advancing space tourism.

Origin offers Travel Personalization

Dutch startup Origin provides premium travel personalization to tourists. The startup utilizes machine learning and travel curators to plan creative vacations. It also arranges flights and accommodation for travelers. Further, the startup measures the carbon output of itineraries and offers sustainable tourism options.

8. Ecotourism

Traveling responsibly minimizes tourism’s environmental impact and supports local communities’ well-being. Ecotourists strive to reduce their carbon footprint during their journeys. Startups contribute by developing sustainable transport, ecolodges, and solar-powered resorts.

Airline passengers have the option to offset carbon emissions during flight bookings. Local tourism stimulates small businesses economically and creates job opportunities. It also emphasizes minimum littering, which lowers pollution and the time spent on cleanups.

Jet-Set Offset simplifies Flight Carbon Offset

US-based startup Jet-Set Offset creates a carbon-offsetting platform for air travel. The startup partners with non-profit organizations working against climate change and connects them with travelers. Each time travelers book flight tickets via the startup’s platform, Jet-Set Offset contributes a certain amount per mile for their journey to environmental organizations. This way, the passenger’s journey promotes mileage-based donations to offset carbon emissions.

The Green Stamp facilitates Ethical Wildlife Tour

Dutch startup The Green Stamp provides a platform to book ethical wildlife tours. It curates tours based on the tourists’ inclinations toward certain locations or wildlife. Exploration of these projects allows travelers to indirectly contribute to their cause as these wildlife projects donate to the welfare of local communities and the environment.

9. Blockchain

Blockchain provides the travel industry with operational transparency and security. Traceable payments, particularly for international travel, are a key application, that fosters trust among parties involved in transactions.

Automation and enforcement of agreements in travel insurance and supplier contracts are achieved through smart contracts. This strengthens reliability and cuts administrative costs. Travel firms establish customer loyalty programs where points are exchanged for cryptocurrency. Lastly, blockchain increases data storage security, reducing the risk of information leaks.

Upswing facilitates Guest Profiling

Indian startup Upswing creates AURA , a blockchain-powered platform for guest profiling. It provides a holistic view of guests, their preferences, and purchase patterns. The platform associates a score with each guest and suggests improvements in their service. This facilitates hotels to provide a personalized experience to their guests and, in turn, increase sales.

UIQ Travel develops a Solo Traveling App

US-based startup UIQ Travel develops a blockchain-based app to connect solo travelers. It discovers people with shared interests and suggests tours or attractions. Such hyper-personalized recommendations assist in experience discovery and also increase traveler engagement.

Discover all Travel Trends, Technologies & Startups

Tourism, although severely impacted by the pandemic, now continues to rapidly grow across the globe. Post-pandemic trends indicate an increasing emphasis on hygiene and safety during travel. The industry is witnessing the widespread adoption of disruptive technologies like AI, XR, IoT, and blockchain. The travel industry utilizes big data to understand traveler trends for targeted marketing. The transition to ecotourism is accelerating as businesses integrate zero-emission transit and carbon offset programs to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Travel Trends & Startups outlined in this report only scratch the surface of trends that we identified during our data-driven innovation and startup scouting process. Among others, personalization, decarbonization, and travel safety will transform the sector as we know it today. Identifying new opportunities and emerging technologies to implement into your business goes a long way in gaining a competitive advantage. Get in touch to easily and exhaustively scout startups, technologies & trends that matter to you!

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Emirates Group newsroom

The Emirates Group builds innovation platform to spearhead the future of aviation and travel

DUBAI, UAE, 9 March 2023 – The Emirates Group, always at the forefront of innovation in aviation, is hosting the first edition of ForsaTEK*, an annual event and a platform to create new opportunities, bring together two start-up programmes – Intelak and Aviation X Lab – plus collaborate with high-profile tech and industry partners, start-ups and key players in the ecosystem.  His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline and Group, officially opened the event. He said: “Innovation is an integral strand of the Emirates Group’s DNA since day one. With the advancements in technology, we have always aimed to deliver better value and solutions to our customers through its adaptation and implementation across our business. ForsaTEK is another platform to showcase technological initiatives and its applications in our industry. Together with our like-minded partners and some of the brightest minds spanning industries, we’ve built a robust incubator ecosystem that is delivering cutting-edge initiatives in travel.”  ForsaTEK  Being held over two days, 9 and 10 March, at Emirates Group Headquarters in collaboration with industry partners, ForsaTEK is themed around aviation, travel and tourism. The event is envisioned as a platform to showcase the future of travel through entrepreneurship and innovation, fostering collaboration, encouraging incubator communities and driving thought-provoking ideas.  Partners   The Emirates Group’s partners at this one-of-a-kind event included Accenture, Airbus, Amadeus, Amazon Web Services, Collins Aerospace, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, GE Aerospace, Microsoft, Thales and Vision-Box. They enthralled audiences with several standout showcases and demos, including the first robotic check-in experience by the Emirates Group, AI by Microsoft, digital solutions focused on efficiency and safety by GE Aerospace, and eSIM by Thales. Dubai Future Foundation introduced their work and ambitions for the city, and Maha Gaber, founder of Digital and Savvy, engaged the audience on ‘building your own brand’.  Start-up Souk  In a souk style exhibition space, more than 20 start-ups, who are part of Intelak or Aviation X Lab, demonstrated their innovations and pitched their vision for the next big thing in travel to a large audience of VIPs, investors, and the wider tech industry.  Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, elaborated on aviation innovation and new tech during an insightful fireside chat. Riveting panel discussions included topical subjects such as Women in Travel and Tech, which was fitting coming on the heels of International Women’s Day, and AI ChatGPT. On 10 March, the event will host University students to experience new tech, inspire a new generation and discuss issues such as youth empowerment.  *ForsaTEK is derived from ‘Forsa’ which means ‘your opportunities’ in Arabic, and is a play on the words technology and Emirates (code EK).  About Intelak  The Emirates Group created Intelak, a start-up incubator and accelerator programme in collaboration with partners Amadeus, Microsoft, Accenture, and Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. The programme is designed to identify and support start-ups in the travel, tourism, and aviation sectors, and to provide mentorship, resources, and funding opportunities to help them grow and succeed. The incubator is helping drive innovation and disruption in these sectors, and is contributing to the growth and development of the broader start-up ecosystem in the UAE and beyond. Intelak has nurtured and supported a number of start-ups that have gone on to achieve significant growth and success.  Visit: https://intelak.com/  About Aviation X Lab  Aviation X Lab is a visionary partnership between the Emirates Group, Collins Aerospace, Thales, Airbus, and GE Aerospace that aims to transform the aviation industry by enhancing the customer journey. Through a series of moonshots launched in every cycle, Aviation X Lab brings together start-ups, corporations, governments, and academia to develop breakthrough solutions that push the boundaries of possibilities in aviation. The platform focuses on diverse themes – from sustainability to safety and efficiency – with the ultimate goal of creating a seamless and enjoyable experience for customers. By leveraging the latest technologies, data analytics, and cross-disciplinary expertise, Aviation X Lab is revolutionising air travel and shaping the future of the industry in alignment with the UAE's visionary national agenda, 2071.  Visit: https://www.theaviationxlab.com/   

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REDEFINING THE END-TO-END PASSENGER EXPERIENCE AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

13 innovations that have the potential to future-proof airport operations

On the Ground // Jun 2022

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Just a few days after our Future Travel Experience mega-show in Dublin, which took place on 7-9 June, the FTE team headed to Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE) in Paris to scout for further innovations that can improve airport operations and the passenger experience. Here we highlight some of the most exciting products we spotted at the show.

Cloud operations tool

airline travel innovation

AeroCloud entered the market in 2019, addressing airports’ need for alternative solutions to outdated and obsolete legacy technology. George Richardson, CEO and co-founder of AeroCloud, commented: “We’re a cloud-operations tool, which provides airport operation directors with a crystal ball to help them predict the future. AeroCloud’s ethos is about spreading all of the information airport-wide to all of stakeholders for an unlimited user licence agreement. What we do specifically is we centralise the airport data into what is now known as the Intelligent Airport Management Platform.” The management platform is designed to increase airport throughput, centralise all airport data, automate tasks, predict passenger flow, manage gate usage and ensure all airport stakeholders have access to modern, reliable and intuitive technology solutions. As the solution is cloud-native, its data insights can be accessed via its web interface by team members on any device or browser that is connected to the internet. “We believe this is a turnkey solution for airports that need to optimise their efficiency. We have 18 customers globally with our largest airport client being Tampa International Airport and our smallest customer Pitt-Greenville Airport. The idea is that we are offering them the same solution – it’s scalable, affordable and it can be implemented within 48 hours.”

360-degree digital-first communication strategy

airline travel innovation

Providing passengers with real-time information about the airport environment right at their fingertips is a big focus for the industry right now, and leveraging on this trend is Atrius. Building on the success of its former company name LocusLab, the indoor mapping and wayfinding solution now continues to thrive within the Atrius ecosystem as Atrius Personal Wayfinder. The solution turns the airport terminal into a data-rich intelligent space to inspire and guide passengers. Zach Spencer, Director of Sales, Atrius, explained: “Atrius provides solutions for intelligent spaces with the mission to make the built world smarter, safer and more sustainable. We are a full-service location services company and we provide everything from the indoor positioning down to connected interactive maps and wayfinding. Passengers can engage with the maps and discover and explore what the airport space has to offer and effectively navigate that.” The company uses mechanisms to seamlessly integrate into mobile applications, websites and digital displays, thereby creating a seamless 360-degree communication strategy. The intuitive indoor mapping solutions not only provide passengers with real-time information, but also help passengers locate dining, retail and other airport amenities, while helping airports easily update concession information, including locations, open hours, and contactless services. “A big trend that we have seen in air travel the past two years is how do we combine the digital and physical space. In the BYOD world we live in now, it’s about enabling passengers to find things from their mobile devices, as opposed to going to information kiosks, where airlines and airports have had to cut back on staff. This also allows people to have a more personalised experience,” Spencer explained. Ultimately, Atrius has built an ecosystem whereby airports, airlines and other day of travel operators can communicate what is going on at the airport environment, increasing collaboration between all parties.

Ultra-slim self-service bag-tagging unit

airline travel innovation

Ink Innovations presented its self-service bag-tagging unit, Ink QuickTag Lite. FTE caught up with the company’s CEO and Founder Shawn Richards, who told us more about the new ultra-slim affordable self-service units. With the new Ink QuickTag Lite solution, airports can retrofit check-in halls and bag-drop areas with touchless barcode scanning and biometrics to create a tag-and-drop space for passengers. Importantly, Richards stressed that the solution has been designed to integrate with any departure control system (DCS). Addressing current issues around staff shortages, Ink QuickTag Lite has also been designed to issue tags with minimal staffing. Moreover, staff can perform check-in, bag-drop and boarding processes from smart handheld devices. “We are positioning these devices for low-cost and ultra-low-cost airlines and domestic, regional airports. We are going after a good pricing model and all of our devices have a very small footprint,” Richards shared.

Join us at FTE Global in Las Vegas on Sept 6-9 – click here to learn more Join us at FTE APEX Asia Expo in Singapore on Nov 9-10– click here to learn more

Seamless biometric check-in to boarding experience

airline travel innovation

FTE also caught up with Richard Dinkelmann, CEO of ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus company, who provided a guided walkthrough of the company’s complete end-to-end biometric passenger journey from check-in to boarding. Powered by facial recognition technology, the solution empowers passengers to pass from check-in to boarding using biometrics, eliminating the need to continually present passports and boarding passes. The experience sees the passenger check-in at a biometric kiosk, where the passenger’s facial image is captured and verified against their passport. Once the verification process is done, luggage is dropped quickly and easily at an Auto Bag Drop (ABD) unit, with passengers automatically recognised by the camera embedded in the unit as they approach it. They can then pass through the security and boarding gates, equipped with cameras that automatically validate the passenger’s identity. The biometric process, which pioneered at Narita Airport in April 2021, uses IATA One ID.

NFT as a service

airline travel innovation

Web3 is fundamentally changing the relationship between businesses and, in the case of airports, the passengers. So, FTE caught up with Sayl, the first owner relationship management platform for Web3 to find out more about the potentials of this technology. Sayl token is the latest addition to Sayl, a customer engagement & commerce platform for large omnichannel businesses. The Sayl platform is today live and already in use by more than 300 brands, including airports such as Brussels Airport and restaurant chains and retailers, who use Sayl for online and in-store ordering, customer data activation, retention & loyalty purposes, identifying their customers in an omnichannel context and serving customers in a more personalised manner. Geert Roete, Co-founder & CEO Sayl, told FTE that while dealing with global brands, Sayl experienced first-hand that for large corporations, interest for the token economy is growing but concrete use cases and tools are still missing. Therefore, the company integrated blockchain and Web3 into its Sayl platform to open unprecedented opportunities for brands. “The platform is designed for marketeers, digital managers, digital teams that want to introduce NFTs to their business to strengthen the relationship between the business and the customers. They can now easily introduce these NFTs in a very seamless way. Within the Sayl platform, they can manage the full life cycle of an NFT without the need to really understand how NFTs, blockchain and crypto really work. Web3 is very often perceived as very technical and only for specific segment of people, but that is not true. We are making NFTs more accessible both for the marketeer and for the consumer.” With regards to removing barriers, the Sayl Conn3ct platform introduced support for managing the full lifecycle of an NFT – from creation of the NFT, the minting, the selling of the NFT, distributing the NFT, towards consumers and up to the operational perks one can get for buying the NFT. Among some of the opportunities that the integration of blockchain and NFTs opens up for brands include: the ability to launch marketing campaigns toward an engaged audience; accessing real-time purchase data that consumers provide in campaigns, creation of a direct-to-consumer relationship. In the case of airlines and airports, NFTs can be used to strengthen customer’s loyalty at a fraction of the cost of a typical loyalty programme. Roete concluded: “At the end of the day, NFTs is just a tool for better loyalty, better understanding and better identifying the customer.”

AI apron turnaround control solution

airline travel innovation

FTE also paid visit to Assaia’s booth to find out how the startup is growing its business since it announced its partnership with Gatwick Airport at FTE Global in 2019. We were pleased to see the growing portfolio of customers from the likes of British Airways, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, American Airlines, LAX, Groupe ADP, Delta, easyJet, LATAM, JFKIAT and many more that have trusted the Zurich-based startup’s ApronAI solution. ApronAI uses computer vision to generate insights from video streams and leverages untapped operational data to optimise apron operations in real-time. Assaia’s products generate data-driven predictions and help you make better decisions, reduce accidents on the apron, improve sustainability, and increase turnaround efficiency.

Using data to increase efficiency, reduce cost, improve sustainability

airline travel innovation

On the Collins stand, FTE was keen to find out more about the company’s acquisition of FlightAware, a leading digital aviation company providing global flight tracking solutions, predictive technology, analytics and decision-making tools. FlightAware, is now part of Collins’ Connected Aviation Solutions business unit which is exclusively focused on advancing its connected ecosystem solutions. “FlightAware started as a flight tracking company, but we have now positioned ourselves as an aviation insights company, as we have stored every piece of data that we have captured over the years and that allows us to do a lot of analytics, machine learning and generate new data,” Paul Gibbson, Vice President Products, FlightAware, told FTE. “It’s a unique position that we’re in as we have a lot of historical data, we also use live data coming from our network and then we use machine learning to predict the future. The Collins acquisition allows us to expand and accelerate what we do in terms of the impact. It allows us to deliver a lot more in terms of efficiency, sustainably and reliability, combining the best data with the best applications.” By centralising aircraft data into one solution, Collins Aerospace intends to increase trust and provide the right information to the right user at the right time. It expects FlightAware to achieve this with more accurate data and clear common visibility. Working with cloud provider Amazon Web Services, Collins Aerospace also argues that this tech is cost-effective as the cloud-based solution doesn’t require the maintenance that large amounts of airport-based hardware do in airports’ traditional core operations room setup.

Future-proof self-service technology

airline travel innovation

Elenium showcased its streamline passenger experience that uses secure airport-grade biometrics and voice recognition to take the passenger seamlessly from check-in to boarding. VYGR (short for Voyager) is Elenium’s suite of innovative self-service solutions that provide a quicker and more convenient experience for travellers. The end-to-end solution moves passengers seamlessly from the very start of their journey to their final destination. Voyager offers a contactless journey powered by secure, airport-grade biometrics. Combining speed and ease of use, Voyager facilitates frictionless travel experiences, giving passengers more time to relax, explore, and enjoy their journey. During FTE’s visit to the booth, Rob Bowring, Chief Commercial Officer, Elenium, walked us through VYGR’s end-to-end biometrically enabled touchless solutions, including portable Check-in Kiosk, Self Bag Drop and Automated Boarding. “All our equipment is future-ready, equipped with biometrics, touchless technology, voice recognition and computer vision,” he said. “Future proofing infrastructure now and getting the right technology is key to making airports and airlines ready for the future.” Impressively, in the past six years, Elenium has gone from having a zero self-service installation base to having over 1000 devices implemented in 24 airports globally, with Da Nang International Airport recently announced as the latest customer to adopt Elenium VYGR self-service solution.

State-of-the-art planning platform

airline travel innovation

BEONTRA showcased its newly launched BEONTRA Horizons platform. With a user-focused design strategy of “less effort, more intelligence and same flexibility”, BEONTRA Horizons adds significant value without compromising on the benefits of the current scenario planning suite. With a modern user interface targeting the individual solution of every user, BEONTRA Horizons builds upon 10+ years of community feedback. Routine tasks are automated and default checks and reports are readily available to focus all time and attention to value generation. Sales Director Jana Skornicka and Senior Sales Manager Lena Renner explained to FTE that fully integrated machine learning algorithms allow for both quicker and more intelligent forecast. Learning from the historical data it identifies patterns and trends to apply on future data. Most importantly, the user remains in full control and has the freedom to change all default settings and outcomes.

A step closer to a fully self-screening checkpoint

airline travel innovation

Vanderlande recognises that the digitalisation of airport processes will be key to increasing efficiency and flexibility as the sector gains back the confidence of passengers. The company’s mission is to support the industry in these efforts through everything it does – from baggage to passenger handling – moving towards more of an end-to-end optimised journey. Among the most innovative concepts that Vanderlande presented at PTE was the PAX Divest Assistant, created in partnership with Rohde & Schwarz and dormakaba Group. Vanderlande’s self-divest solution introduces a self-service function to airport security checkpoints by allowing passengers to move through the divestment process without the help of a local agent. The solution can help reduce passenger and staff interactions while providing travellers with a stress-free journey through the screening process. “While self-screening is still somewhat of a futuristic concept, our self-screening passenger security checkpoint solution for airports was selected by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for further design, development and operational testing,” shared Roxane Beauchesne, Senior Marketing Manager, Vanderlande. “This will bring us a step closer to the fully self-screening checkpoint.”

Innovative retrofit touchless solution 

airline travel innovation

Startup company happymeter presented the happyhover – an innovative retrofit solution that can easily be installed onto existing self check-in kiosks, eliminating the need for a complete equipment overhaul. The happyhover™ bar, when placed above the interactive kiosk screen, uses touch sensor technology to project a shield of invisible infrared light that detects finger movements in mid- air, allowing customers to select, swipe and type without the need to physically touch the screen. Pierre Hausheer, founder of Happymeter, explained to FTE that the solution was created in response to the need for more touchless experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and was first adopted by Changi Airport. “We are very lucky to work with Changi Airport. Although they are a very large company, they have the ability to act fast and that’s what got us on the radar.” Indeed, the happyhover has since been adopted by other leading airports from the likes of Hamad and Narita.

Virtual queueing

airline travel innovation

Virtual queuing is becoming an increasingly popular solution for passenger demand management, especially now when travel is picking up. So, FTE stopped by Copenhagen Optimization’s booth to find out more about the company’s virtual queueing solution, which piloted at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in May 2021. In short, virtual queuing is the process of managing passenger demand by using technology to create a virtual line or space for passengers. This can be done in a variety of ways, including through the use of an app, by phone, email, website, through a contact centre or SMS. Kasper Hounsgaard, CEO and Co-founder at Copenhagen Optimization, told FTE that the project is a true collaboration effort between Copenhagen Optimization and its partners Clear and Whyline. “Our partners are really good at virtual queueing, while we’re really good at airport operations – it’s the combination of these two elements that makes this a very strong innovation and showing that it’s important to work with partners.” The virtual queueing solution has already been adopted by a number of airports, including Seattle-Tacoma, LAX, Newark, Calgary and Phoenix Sky Harbor and the feedback so far has been great with passenger surveys showing that 63% of passengers spend more time shopping, eating and drinking due to the VQ processing, and 96% say they have enjoyed the experience.

Lost & Found tech

airline travel innovation

“What we’ve seen coming out of COVID is that digitalisation in the industry has accelerated, powering digital travel,” SITA’s Head of Baggage Peter Drummond told FTE. “And what we’re seeing now is the significant stress on the air transport industry, as countries are opening back up. Technology will be fundamental for airline and airport operations, while we have passengers demanding more automation and self-service.” With this in mind, SITA presented its brand-new solution the WorldTracer® Lost and Found Property – an ATI-specific, cloud-based application that solves the lost property problem on a global scale. Using cutting edge technology, it helps airlines handle lost and found items more accurately, reuniting passengers with their lost property and ensuring GDPR compliance. With the Lost & Found Property Service, passengers can make a report on their phone, register that with their airline and when the item is found, all they need to do is take a photograph of the item. Using computer vision and machine learning, SITA’s software then identifies the type of item that is lost and facilities the matching of the item.

Future Travel Experience Ancillary

11-13 June 2024, Dublin

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28-30 oCT 2024, California

Where the world's most progressive travel facilitators define tomorrow’s end-to-end passenger experience

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15 Tech-Focused Airline Innovations

airline travel innovation

From Standby Seat-Searching Apps to Luggage-Tracking Devices

Compensation-Winning Travel Startups

  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Delta
  • Racial and Ethnic Diversity
  • LGBTQ+ Diversity
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  • Global Partners

Travel made for you: Fast, free Wi-Fi with Delta Sync

Delta is carrying out its industry-leading commitment to bringing fast, free Wi-Fi presented by T-Mobile to its entire global fleet.  

First announced at CES 2023, reliable, streaming-quality connectivity will be available from the time the boarding door closes to the moment the plane arrives at the gate, allowing customers to connect during travel and spend their time in a way that suits them – just like they would at home, for free1.  

Delta expects the vast majority of our customers to have access to fast, free Wi-Fi by the end of 2024, and expects select remaining regional and international routes will come online into 2025. Our teams are hard at work ensuring we have the best technology onboard to deliver the experience customers expect at scale and reliably across our network. 

Delta Sync is Delta’s personalization brand, powering the future of travel through SkyMiles® membership. It currently encompasses two industry-leading entertainment products that have been rolling out as part of the Wi-Fi experience onboard: 

  • Delta Sync Wi-Fi brings streaming-quality connectivity to the sky and is available on personal devices – cell phones, laptops, etc. – via the Delta Sync Wi-Fi login page.  
  • Delta Sync seatback elevates our industry-leading seatback screens to make them feel more like smart TVs. 

These new onboard experiences make your seat in the sky feel more like a seat in your living room, giving you new ways to enjoy travel with connectivity and personalized entertainment that is fit for you.  

SkyMiles members can enjoy exclusive offers, access and entertainment from mainstay brands they know and love, including T-Mobile, Paramount+, Walmart+, American Express, Atlas Obscura, Resy and New York Times Games.  

Delta Sync is seamlessly integrated with SkyMiles membership and the Fly Delta app, creating the ultimate personalized experience in the sky.  

Over the next few years, Delta will be rolling out additional Delta Sync products that will enable a more elevated and meaningful customer experience—from booking to arrival and beyond.  

DELTA SYNC WI-FI

In a nutshell: Fast, free streaming and so much more for SkyMiles Members 

Once connected to Delta Sync Wi-Fi on their laptop, tablet or smartphone, SkyMiles members get immediate access to exclusive content from hand-picked brands that Delta has partnered with to make their onboard time well-spent. 

Key features included as part of the Delta Sync Wi-Fi experience include:  

  • My Exclusives: Customers can enjoy premium entertainment, access and offers from mainstay brands they know and love.  
  • My Flight: Because customers will be connected to free, fast Wi-Fi, they can also navigate to this tab for inspiration on what awaits at their destination along with what they need to know about their journey.   

Delta plans to partner with additional premium brands to refresh and elevate the experience over time.  

DELTA SYNC SEATBACK

In a nutshell: Smart TV personalization on the seatback screen unlocked by SkyMiles Membership 

Delta Sync seatback is available today on all Airbus A321ceo and Boeing 757-200 (75D) aircraft, and Delta plans to bring the new seatback product to Airbus A319s and A320s, as well as Boeing 737-800 aircraft, by the end of the summer.  

The new seatback screen platform aims to change how customer loyalty and in-flight experience work together to the benefit of the customer. Delta has a vision for building a program for SkyMiles members both on the ground and in the air that gives them opportunities to engage with the airline beyond the flight.  

SkyMiles members will enjoy a refreshed look and feel, best-in-class content and smart TV features designed to feel like streaming services customers have used at home. These features include remembering where you left off in a movie, listing your favorite movies and series, and more.   

Delta Sync seatback also offers a host of day-of-travel tools for SkyMiles members designed to streamline their travel journey. The new My Flight category includes details tailored to each user about their connecting flights, including terminal and gate locations as well as scheduled connection times. SkyMiles members who log in to Delta Sync seatback will also receive real-time notifications delivered directly to their seatback screen about any adjustments to their connecting flight’s schedule or other pertinent trip details.  

Logging in to Delta Sync seatback follows a familiar process. Customers simply follow the two-step prompt on their seatback screen to seamlessly connect their SkyMiles account to the personalized experience using the Fly Delta app. 

BY THE NUMBERS

Since launching fast, free Wi-Fi in February 2023*:   

Teams led by Delta TechOps have diligently navigated the complex process of outfitting more than 650 aircraft with free Wi-Fi, one-by-one.  

Millions of fliers have joined Delta SkyMiles through accessing Delta Sync Wi-Fi, giving them access not only to free Wi-Fi but also to connected experiences that make travel on Delta unique, rewarding and memorable. 

More than 39 million travelers have enjoyed the aircraft as the ultimate platform for discovery – logging more than 45 million streaming-quality sessions onboard .  

SkyMiles members on more than 185 aircraft have enjoyed Delta Sync seatback. With over 161,000 seatback screens across more than 850 aircraft —more than double that of the nearest domestic competitor—the airline leads the industry in in-flight entertainment.  

*As of Feb. 29, 2023.  

WHY IS DELTA DOUBLING DOWN ON IN-FLIGHT CONNECTIVITY?

As high travel demand continues to highlight the importance of customer satisfaction across the airline industry, Delta is focused on delivering immediate benefits to customer loyalty. Traditionally, airline loyalty programs have been built on the idea of longer-term benefits—that customers should sign up, enjoy their travel, and over time, receive benefits for the loyalty they’ve shown. Delta’s shift away from this approach to one of immediate value reflects the airline’s commitment to staying ahead in a dynamic industry and keeping pace with evolving customer interests.   

By joining SkyMiles and filling out a profile, Delta Sync automatically uses that information to personalize customers’ experiences on flights. As customers deepen their relationships with Delta through these logged-in member experiences, the airline is able to serve them in new, in-the-moment ways, ultimately furthering their preference for the Delta brand.  

HOW IS DELTA PARTNERING WITH SATELLITE PROVIDERS TO BRING FREE WI-FI TO ITS FLEET?  

Delta utilizes best-in-class technology in collaboration with leading satellite internet service providers Viasat and Hughes to make its complex connectivity revolution a reality.  

Viasat technology delivers high-speed connectivity onboard domestic mainline routes today (with the exception of the 74 aircraft in Delta’s Boeing 717 fleet) and is expanding onboard the airline’s international-serving widebody fleets.  

Hughes is bringing streaming-capable connectivity to Delta’s fleet of more than 400 regional jets as well as to the Boeing 717 fleet.  

The technology from both suppliers will replace Intelsat systems (formerly known as Gogo).  

Both trusted partners play a crucial role in providing a consistent and enhanced in-flight connectivity experience for Delta passengers across various aircraft types and routes.

WHEN WILL FAST, FREE WI-FI BE AVAILABLE ACROSS DELTA’S GLOBAL FLEET?  

More than 650 aircraft are in service today with fast, free Delta Sync Wi-Fi, and Delta expects free Wi-Fi availability to represent more than 90% of total available seat miles (ASMs) by the end of 2024. Connectivity at this scale remains unmatched in the industry.  

Streaming-capable Hughes connectivity is on its way to Delta’s fleet of more than 400 regional jets as well as to its Boeing 717 fleet, with the first regional aircraft set to come online later this year. Select regional and international routes are expected to come online into 2025, including those serviced by Boeing 717 aircraft. 

As Delta outfits its widebody aircraft with upgraded Wi-Fi and rigorously evaluates its performance, free Wi-Fi will be phased by market as high-quality, reliable service becomes available. This strategy mirrors the approach taken with domestic installations in 2022 and aims to deliver a premium customer experience.  

HOW DO CUSTOMERS KNOW IF FREE WI-FI IS AVAILABLE ON THEIR FLIGHT?

Customers can visit  delta.com/wifi  for more information on what Wi-Fi service to expect on their next flight. During booking, Wi-Fi-ready aircraft are identifiable by the “fast-streaming Wi-Fi” indicator denoted on a search result.  

In addition, customers can reference pre-flight emails, app notifications or look for the following decal located near the boarding door: 

Customers can tell whether they are on a free Wi-Fi-ready aircraft by looking for the new decal located near the boarding door.

HOW DO CUSTOMERS CONNECT TO FREE WI-FI?

Delta Sync Wi-Fi is available from pushback to park. Once the boarding door closes, customers are free to connect to the onboard Wi-Fi network by selecting the “DeltaWiFi.com” network in their device’s settings. After connecting, customers enter their SkyMiles number and password.  

If a customer navigates away from Delta Sync on their personal device, they can return to the dashboard by simply entering deltawifi.com into a web browser on a mobile device, tablet or laptop connected to Delta Sync Wi-Fi.  

A parent or guardian can obtain Delta SkyMiles accounts for children younger than 16 so they can connect to Delta Sync Wi-Fi while traveling. 

CAN CUSTOMERS CONNECT ON MULTIPLE DEVICES AT THE SAME TIME? 

Yes. In fact, since the introduction of Delta Sync Wi-Fi, the airline has discovered that many people are actively using multiple screens simultaneously while flying, mirroring the experience in their living rooms. This insight came as Delta learned that offering fast, free Wi-Fi has not resulted in any decline in seatback engagement, something that was hypothesized before the introduction of Delta Sync Wi-Fi.  

WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE FOR SOMEONE WHO ISN’T A SKYMILES MEMBER?  

For Delta Sync Wi-Fi:  

Customers without a SkyMiles account can join for free directly from the login page, if needed, to get immediate access to Delta Sync Wi-Fi.  

Customers who prefer to not have a SkyMiles account have the option to purchase Wi-Fi access. They will receive the same fast, reliable connection regardless of how they connect.  

Customers who pay for Wi-Fi access will still have access to the internet but will not have access to the personalized entertainment and offers from Delta’s partners via Delta Sync Wi-Fi. 

For Delta Sync seatback:  

Customers who choose not to pair their SkyMiles account to the seatback screen will still be able to enjoy the hours of hit movies, TV series and audio content but will not have access to the personalization features associated with the new logged-in experience. 

For more information on Delta’s Wi-Fi, visit delta.com/wifi. 

Through the warmth and service of the Delta people and the power of innovation, Delta never stops looking for ways  make every trip feel fit for you . 

1 Wi-Fi Terms of Use Apply. Available on most domestic flights.

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Delta customers sitting in First Class enjoy seatback entertainment.

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    Virgin Australia has embarked on a mission to tackle one of the most persistent frustrations in air travel: baggage tracking. Recognizing the urgent need for innovation in baggage management ... That concludes our February edition of the Airline-Tech Innovation Radar. While the airline industry is buzzing with many more new product launches and ...

  14. Top 10 Airline Industry Trends in 2024

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    Future-proof self-service technology. Elenium showcased its streamline passenger experience that uses secure airport-grade biometrics and voice recognition to take the passenger seamlessly from check-in to boarding. VYGR (short for Voyager) is Elenium's suite of innovative self-service solutions that provide a quicker and more convenient ...

  23. 5 Best New Airport Tech Innovations Upgrading Your 2024 Travel

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  25. Travel made for you: Fast, free Wi-Fi with Delta Sync

    OVERVIEW. Delta is carrying out its industry-leading commitment to bringing fast, free Wi-Fi presented by T-Mobile to its entire global fleet. First announced at CES 2023, reliable, streaming-quality connectivity will be available from the time the boarding door closes to the moment the plane arrives at the gate, allowing customers to connect during travel and spend their time in a way that ...

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