A presentation of airline information technology trends, dated August 2011. Based on data from the IT industry as well as big travel technology companies like Amadeus, this presentation outlines trends in two main areas, mobile technology and social media.

1. Airline Mobile Technology and
Social Media Trends
August 5, 2011
Olcay Korol

2. Contents
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Smartphone Market
Tablet Market
Airline Sector Technology Trends
Trends – Mobile Applications
Trends – Social Networks
Mobile Application Maturity Levels
Return-on-Investment
Innovation
Strategies
References

3. Smartphone Market
•
According to a 2011 survey by Gartner, mobile smartphone and
tablet application development are companies’ second priority
in technology strategy
•
In the US, the number of smartphones will exceed the number
of full-featured phones by the end of 2012.
•
According to a survey by Amadeus, 16% of all passengers and
34% of frequent fliers buy tickets via smartphone

4. Smartphone OS Market Shares
Source
Year
Symbian Android
RIM
iOS
Microsoft
Diğer
Gartner
2011
Q1
27.4%
36.0%
12.9% 16.8%
3.6%
3.3%
Gartner
2010
37.6%
22.7%
16.0% 15.7%
4.2%
3.8%
Gartner
2009
46.9%
3.9%
19.9% 14.4%
8.7%
6.1%
Gartner
2008
52.4%
0.5%
16.6%
8.2%
11.8%
10.5%
Gartner
2007
63.5%
N/A
9.6%
2.7%
12.0%
12.1

5. Tablet Market
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Sale figures
 2010 (real): 17.6 M total. 14.7 M iPads
 2011 (estimated): 70 M total. 48 M iPads
 2015 (estimated): 294 M total. 138 M iPads
•
Market shares
 2010 (real): %83 iOS, %14 Android
 2011 (estimated): %69 iOS, %20 Android
 2015 (estimated): %47 iOS, %39 Android
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Airline sector
 Cathay Pacific
 American Airlines

6. Mobile Web vs.
Mobile Application
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Mobile web development
 Cheaper
 Can be difficult to use
 Difficulties with satisfying expectations of web users
•
Mobile (Native) application
 Expensive to develop
 User-friendliness
 Integration with location based services

7. Aviation Technology Trends
(SITA 2011 Airline IT Trends Survey)
•
91% of Airlines foresee an increase in mobile passenger
services
 60%: Program-level
 31%: R&D project
•
Percentage of passengers who check-in via mobile devices is
expected to rise from 3% in 2011 to 15% in 2014.
•
69% of airlines either sell or plan to sell tickets via social
networks by the end of 2014.
•
80% of airlines either sell or plan to market & sell products via
social networks by the end of 2014.

8. Trends – Mobile Applications
• TravelTech research prepared for Amadeus
http://www.amadeus.com/airlineit/the-always-connectedtraveller/docs/Amadeus-The-Always-Connected-Traveller2011-EN.pdf
•
The concept of “Always-Connected Passenger”
•
3-phase analysis:
 Existing or short-time projects (max. 12 months)
 Mid-term projects (Those that are expected to be live in 1-2
years)
 Long-term projects (Those that are expected to be live in 35 years)

10. Trends - 1
Services that are already provided by the airlines, or planned to be
provided within the next 12 months:
• Basic Mobile Features
 Schedule information
 Booking
 2D-barcode baggage pass printing
 Schedule change/cancellation notifications via SMS
 Alternative flight suggestion via SMS
• Most of these have already been industry-standard
• None of them are differentiating

11. Trends - 2
Services that are expected to be provided within 1 or 2 years:
• Ancillary services and merchandising
 Seat selection
 Food selection and purchase
• Personalized ticket price suggestions
• Location-based services
 Airport shopping information
 Last-minute information for passengers at the airport
 Navigation information for check-in desks and gates
• Troubleshooting on social media

12. Trends - 3
Services expected to be widespread in 3 to 5 years:
• Applications for better customer experience
 Disruption management (Notifications of delays,
cancellations etc)
 Social media responses
 Passenger tracking (No need for «last calls» any more)
 Notifications based on push technology (possible up-sells)
• Services based on new technologies and device features
 Mobile payment
 Near Field Communications (NFC)


Faster check-in and boarding
Depends on the availability of smartphones with this feature
 Voice command

13. Trends – Social Networks
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Marketing, Campaigns
•
Last-Minute Updates
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Ticket Sales
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Reward Programs
•
Troubleshooting
•
Peer Review

14. Mobile Application Maturity Levels
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Level 1: Basic.
 Adaptation of existing services to mobile devices
•
Level 2: Deployment of “anytime, anywhere” services and
applications
 Continuous up-sell capacity
 Cross-sell possibilities
•
Level 3: Contextual intelligence, i.e. understanding the
passenger’s context and offering services accordingly
 Operational improvements based on location-based
services
 More real-time information
 Prevention of fraud

15. Return On Investment
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Reduction of Opex
 Fewer staff, more self-service
 Decline in the usage of kiosks
 Rise in efficiency
•
Revenue increase
 Ancillary services
 Impulse sales
 Last-minute sales
•
Customer loyalty
•
Brand awareness

16. Innovation (1)
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Pioneering
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Service differentiation
 Competition offers almost the same services
 How to differentiate?



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Variations in services offered
Loyalty programs
Customer-specific offers
Same customer experience on different channels (Multi-channel
integration)
 Example: Start booking process on airline web-page, finish
on the mobile platform
 Use of smartphone features (gyroscope etc.)

17. Innovation (2)
Some features that passengers say «I’d love to use it»:
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Real-time flight information updates
•
Real-time baggage arrival updates
•
Directions for navigating at the airport

18. Strategy - Platform Selection
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Which way to go: Mobile Web vs Native App?
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Mobile web page
 At least as important as mobile applications
•
Mobile native application platforms
 iOS
 Android
 Blackberry
 Windows 7
 Java
•
Tablet application development  A niche domain

19. Strategy – Data Analysis
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Mobile reports
•
Detailed analysis

Mobile application usage data




Device
OS
Location
Cumulative statistics of mobile platforms


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Sales figures
Check-in usage ratios
Ancillary service usage ratios

20. Strategy – IT Organization (1)
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Almost all airlines outsource mobile application initiatives
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Outsourced activities

Software development

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


Mobile software startups
Airline software companies
Systems integrators
PSS/GDS service providers
Support

21. Strategy – IT Organization (2)
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In-house IT activities




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Mobile strategy development
Project management
Style / UI / Customer experience projects
Integration with existing systems
Coordination with business units

22. Bibliography
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http://www.slideshare.net/softwarepark/mobile-apps-social-network-trendsimpact-on-airline-business
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http://www.amadeus.com/airlineit/the-always-connectedtraveller/docs/Amadeus-The-Always-Connected-Traveller-2011-EN.pdf
•
http://landlopers.com/2011/01/18/top-airline-travel-iphone-ipad-apps/

23. Thank You...