This morning at Future Travel Experience Ancillary & Retailing we dedicated a session to the latest airline retailing strategies, featuring 3 major airline groups based in Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia respectively:
- Ricard Vila, LATAM Airlines
- Keith Martin, Lufthansa Group
- Wong Mei Hong, AirAsia
I had the following questions for them:
- What does it take to become a digital airline? How do airlines compete for digital talents? What does the organizational structure of a digital airline look like?
- What does the journey to digital retailing look like? What difference will this transformation make for customers and sellers? What may the ecosystem look like by 2030?
My key takeaways:
- The most challenging, and rewarding, part of a major digital transformation is the human part. Digital talent, culture and mindset, is the catalyst of the digital airline.
- A “Digital Talent Model” provides a structured approach that translates into measurable performance (organizational health) which leads to agility and responsiveness that customers can feel.
- Even the most structured airline cannot plan a major transformation at a very detailed level. The execution will require agility and adjustments, including at financial and budget level.
- Digital retailers can sell products for which they don’t control the inventory. Will airlines become digital retailers selling other airlines’ flights, as already happening in the “interline” model?
- The emergence of digital airlines, combining digital talents, processes and technologies, will transform the travel experience by 2030
