Frantic pressure of keeping up with customer expectations

by DOMINIC LALK IN LAS VEGAS  

June 1st 2017

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Big data and data analytics now offer airlines greater opportunities to determine travel trends than at any time in history. Read More » Asia-Pacific airlines must apply the insights obtained from data mining to stay ahead as the digital means of attracting customers to airlines becomes ever more varied.

In May, travel technology provider, Sabre, held its Airline Technology Exchange (ATX) in Las Vegas. It was attended by more than 400 airline representatives. Delegates included 80 experts from the Asia-Pacific, including representatives from all 17 HNA Group carriers.

Dasha Kuksenko

Cyril Tetaz

Information shared at the Sabre gathering included results from a Forbes Insights and Sabre project that asked 100 operations, marketing, IT and finance executives from the world’s largest airlines to identify their primary strategies for the next three to five years.

Customer experience was their top brand promise, at 61%, as well as the number one measure of success in disruption management (72%).

“Data quality is absolutely the greatest challenge for the overall IT strategy,” said Air China’s deputy general-manager of system organisation control (SOC), Wan Qingchao. “With incomplete or inaccurate data, it is impossible to deliver high quality products, no matter how excellent the algorithm is and how intelligent the system. Our company has realized this during the process of working on the decision support system of flight operations.”

When implementing new technology, airlines often face the challenge of upgrading their software and hardware while the carrier continues its 24/7 operating cycle.

The relationship between enhanced technology, improved service and more revenue has become clearer for Garuda Indonesia. “We want to grow the IT at Garuda to improve our customer experience and enhance revenue,” said Iwan Joeniarto, director of operations for Garuda. The Indonesian full service carrier has shifted much of its customer-facing and internal systems to cloud-based solutions to simplify operations, reduce IT infrastructure demands and allow for easier updating.

Asia-Pacific Sabre Airlines Solutions vice president and general manager, Dasha Kuksenko, joined Sabre 12 years ago. One of her first assignments was the technology transformation at Virgin Australia. She had to facilitate the airline’s shift from a hybrid low-cost carrier to a full service competitor to Qantas. Vietnam Airlines and Philippine Airlines also have benefitted from her expertise.

Since those early days in building the business in the region, Sabre now has Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and the HNA Group as clients. The latter has contracted Sabre to roll out products to support and improve the HNA carriers’ IT solutions and passenger experience.

Sabre is now working on extending its solutions from parent Air China to the carrier’s Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary, Kuksenko said, and added the four groups represented 80% of the China market so Sabre is “very comfortable” with its Mainland footprint.

But white spots remain. “We’re not having a relationship with Spring Airlines today and that’s a major player that we need to work on,” she said.

“Chinese airlines are expanding their presence globally. These carriers understand that to fill airplanes, they cannot rely on targeting Chinese travellers alone,” said Cyril Tetaz, Asia-Pacific head of commercial for airlines at Amadeus, told Orient Aviation.

Amadeus has one up on its larger, Texas-headquartered rival.  “As a distribution partner, we are helping Chinese airlines such as Spring to reach more travellers around the world through our global travel agency network. Most of the Chinese carriers have come to us to power their international websites, and we are working with them to not only power their online bookings, but also help them understand the preferences and behaviours of travellers outside of China and tailor their websites and online experiences to the unique needs of each market,” Tetaz said.

The European travel technology provider has entered commercial agreements on the Mainland with Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines.

The world’s big three GDS and airline solutions providers – Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport – have come a long way to fight obsolescence and carve out new revenue streams through innovative technology.

Sabre Corp. CEO and former airline top executive, Sean Menke, told Orient Aviation at the Sabre conference in Las Vegas. “With shopping, we are seeing a massive amount of data processing. It’s not going to slow down because of the technological complexity airlines require to sell their products and services. My job is to make sure we are the enabler.”