Early forms of autopilot technology sprang up more than a century ago, but the aviation industry now is counting on artificial intelligence to improve the traveler experience.
AI is an emerging area for airline IT investment, according to a 2017 report by SITA; half of airlines plan to invest in AI and cognitive computing over the next three years. Overall IT spending by airlines increased an estimated 3.3 percent to $24.3 billion in 2017, according to the report.
In a late-2017 webinar on aviation industry AI, Houman Goudarzi, innovation manager for the International Air Transport Association, spoke of four generations of AI that have improved airline operations or will do so:
- First generation: flight management systems and other technology in common use on aircraft, such as automatic cabin pressurization technology
- Under development: harnessing technology to predict passenger behavior and to model revenue management; and using biometrics to eliminate the need for boarding passes
- In the future: better detection and analysis of aircraft damage
- Eventually: self-flying planes and autonomous in-flight services
Current Investment Priorities
Forty-three percent of airlines are undergoing or planning major programs regarding biometric identity management through 2020, according to SITA. Some already have pilot programs in place. Delta, for example, began a program last year for Clear members to access Delta Sky Clubs via fingerprint scan at Washington Reagan National Airport, and the carrier since has expanded the program to boarding at Reagan and to Sky Club access across the U.S. “It’s about how we can minimize the transactions employees have to do,” Delta director of innovation Nicole Jones said. “In the long term, passengers could transfer from the curb to the gate without the need of a printed or mobile pass, as long as they are Clear members.”
JetBlue and Lufthansa, meanwhile, are trialing biometrics-based boarding programs that identify passengers by facial imagery. JetBlue is trying its program in Boston, and Lufthansa is expanding its program across U.S. airports after a test run in Los Angeles. Lufthansa said it could enable a 350-passenger A380 to be boarded in about 20 minutes.
Airlines also will invest big in AI-driven chatbots over the next few years. As of last year, only 14 percent of airlines were using chatbots, according to SITA. Last November, Air France launched Louis, a chatbot dedicated specifically to baggage questions. A few months prior, Finnair launched Finn, which can answer, via Facebook Messenger, questions about baggage and buying tickets. By 2020, 68 percent of airlines plan to be using AI-driven chatbots, according to SITA.
Voice-activated technology also will play a role. Last year, United became the first U.S. carrier to enable Amazon’s Alexa to answer questions about flights like flight status or onboard amenities of a specific flight.
Other AI investments are not customer facing but will affect the traveler experience. Over the next three years, 80 percent of airlines plan investments in AI-reliant prediction and warning systems to minimize flight disruptions, according to SITA. AI also will transform airline revenue management, as forecast models will adapt better to changing conditions, such as the launch of a low-cost carrier, Amadeus IT Group head of AI research Rodrigo Acuna Agost said during the IATA webinar. Another are of AI investment will be investigating how people select flights and ancillaries, he said. “Most of the previous models were rational, but people are not rational.”
Airports, too, are investing in AI; 42 percent of them, for example, are investing in chatbot services, according to SITA. Airport enhancements over the next several years should include ways to make facilities more customer-centric, such as easily informing travelers of security queues and alerting them of alternatives when certain lines are long, said Mark Drusch, VP of consulting firm ICF. “If I’m spending 30 minutes on the other side of security, it’s infuriating to me and I didn’t have time to go get a Starbucks [coffee], so the airport lost revenue,” he said. “Telling me makes me as a customer feel better and generates more revenue for the airport.”