New SkyTeam CEO wants alliance to be a digital game changer

by DOMINIC LALK  

July 1st 2018

Print Friendly

In early June, the SkyTeam alliance named Delta Air Lines executive, Kristin Colvile, as its new CEO, succeeding Perry Cantarutti, who will return to Delta as senior vice president alliances. Read More »

“I’ve been in the industry for more than 25 years. Ironically enough, I began my career with Northwest Airlines, just before the first joint venture was announced between Northwest and KLM. It meant I was deep in JVs and alliances right at the start. And this never changed,” she said.

“I have worked in alliances and JVs for just about my entire career, so I’m very familiar with this space,” Colvile told Orient Aviation in an exclusive interview before she took up the SkyTeam CEO chair on July 1.

In her new role leading SkyTeam, Colvile said she would focus on enhancing the technological capabilities of its 20 member carriers to improve the customer experience.

The alliance has launched the SkyLink Digital Spine, a technology-based functionality that allows member airlines to access other members’ seat maps and cross-sell ancillary products to passengers. The functionality translates messages between airlines using APIs and IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology.

Colvile said the Digital Spine “is a game changer in the industry”, not least because it made working together much easier. “In the current environment, if you want to connect with another airline, you have to effectively write the language of the airline to which you are connecting,” she said.

“With the Digital Spine, instead of asking a member to effectively learn 20 languages and go through the process of individually connecting to 20 members, we are almost a translator. You can speak to one another in the same language and we will do the translation,” she said. “My vision, the SkyTeam vision, is the customer will have the same home carrier or preferred carrier experience no matter which member carrier she or he flies.”

Aeromexico and Delta will be the first airlines to use the Digital Spine from mid this month. Colvile told Orient Aviation eight more carriers will be linked to the technology hub by year-end, including China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. Colvile expected all 20 SkyTeam members to be participants in to the new platform by year-end 2019.

“It’s a pivotal time in SkyTeam’s evolution and the evolution of alliances in general. We have been investing heavily in technology in the last few years, but it’s only this year that we began to roll out some of these initiatives,” Colvile said.

Like Jeffrey Goh at Star Alliance and Rob Gurney at oneworld, Colvile is not planning to increase SkyTeam’s membership. “Our priority is technology development. Network is not a focus now. We have some gaps in our network in Brazil and India. We recognize that, but we are not actively pursuing anyone in those markets. We need to get the technology part right first. Only then will we move on to other things.”

Colvile dismissed suggestions that India’s Jet Airways could be joining SkyTeam this year. “We’re not looking to bring Jet Airways into SkyTeam at this time. Jet has good commercial ties with some of our members and that’s sufficient for now,” she said.

She also made it clear Sichuan Airlines was not going to join SkyTeam in the foreseeable future. “No, this is not something we are looking at,” Colvile said. Sichuan Airlines recently said, on the record, that it was looking to join one of the global alliances.

“We’re looking at what Star and oneworld are doing all the time, but we don’t have plans to develop a connecting partner model. Again, once the technology is up and running, we might have a look at these new tiers of membership. We have to get the basics right first. This could be alliances’ finest hour, if we get things right.”

SkyTeam’s Asia-Pacific members are Taiwan’s China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. “Thirty per cent of our member base is in Greater China. We also have Garuda Indonesia, in the fastest-growing economy in Asia. Watch this space; exciting things are going to happen at Skyteam in Asia,” said Colvile.