How machine learning is transforming airline operations

When airlines were asked about their top business goals for 2022–2023 for the Skift 2022 Digital Transformation Report, 41 percent said reducing operational costs and 68 percent said improving customer service.

Accurately forecasting demand, reducing flight delays and cancellations, and improving on-time performance are key to achieving both goals.

That’s why some leading airlines are turning to solutions based on machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI) that are built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to optimize core operations. In fact, 100 percent of the airlines surveyed by Skift said ML and AI will be very important or somewhat important for driving value over the next 3 years.

By employing ML, airlines can make traffic forecasting not only better but more consistent, whereas this forecasting conventionally uses mathematical models that rely on historical data to predict capacity, demand, and pricing. Other advanced solutions are helping airlines minimize delays and anticipate disruptions in near real time. Ultimately, they’re creating more opportunities to accelerate revenue growth and increase customer satisfaction.

Enhance forecasting with ML

The AWS Travel and Hospitality Solutions Library, which contains curated solutions for common use cases for the Travel and Hospitality industry, and AWS Marketplace—the place to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS—offer many vetted, purpose-built industry solutions. One example is Passenger Traffic Forecasting from Mphasis, a solution that provides 30 weeks of forecast of passengers who are expected to travel using historical weekly passenger traffic data. The tool helps airlines and passenger rail and ground services companies predict the number of expected passengers more accurately, using ensemble ML algorithms with automatic model selection algorithms. As soon as an accurate forecast is in place, travel companies can develop pricing strategies to sell seats at a price point and quantity that will maximize revenue.

How much of a difference can it make? When used to predict the monthly domestic passenger traffic at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Mphasis Passenger Traffic Forecasting solution outperformed algorithms by other companies, pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Graph Source: Mphasis

Improve on-time performance, starting with real-time data

Airline operations are complex. They involve a broad set of time-critical processes that span ground and flight operations, above- and below-the-wing tasks, flight and cabin crew operations, and customer experience management.

That’s why United Airlines modernized its operations with TCS Aviana, an intelligent airline operations solution built on AWS. Its installation means that United Airlines can now detect operational deviations and mitigate disruptions faster, resulting in greater opportunities for hassle-free travel.

On-time operations is one of the most valuable metrics for United Airlines and an essential promise it makes to customers. But with large, complex operations involving over 5,000 daily departures across more than 300 airports and involving more than 3,000 operations personnel, achieving that goal requires an extraordinary coordination and effort. The airline realized that it needed both seamless collaboration and interoperability among business units and solution partners, and to provide frontline staff with near-real-time information to make accurate decisions faster.

United Airlines addressed these challenges by connecting its siloed systems using TCS Aviana. The solution identifies deviations in operations and flags severity based on thresholds set in the airline’s operational plan. Early visibility into critical issues, such as missed passenger connections and baggage delays, makes it possible for United Airlines to take proactive action and resolve problems more quickly. TCS Aviana’s impact has been significant; it configured over 500 operations anomalies and flagged nearly 400 business events per second for immediate remediation.

“TCS Aviana helps orchestrate harmony across aviation operations, activating an empowered workforce and resilient operations and delivering a superior traveler experience.” —Sreedhar Gudla, head, TCS Aviana

Gain situational awareness for increased profitability

Azur Airlines is a fast-growing Eastern European airline with more than 30 aircraft. As it grew, operating, managing, and optimizing its fleet became increasingly challenging tasks. With severe weather, geopolitical incidents, and natural disasters on the rise, the airline needed the means to obtain vital information (including fuel and GPS data and aircraft block times) in near real time to “visualize” its fleet.

Azur turned to FLYHT Aerospace Solutions—which helps airlines gain full visibility over assets and the movement of resources and inventory—and began using its AFIRS 228 system and UpTime Cloud Aircraft Situational Display, an AWS-hosted application. The airline installed AFIRS 228, a data acquisition unit, connecting it to aircraft interfaces to obtain pertinent data, such as aircraft position, block times, and fuel on board. The unit sends the data from the aircraft to the AWS infrastructure on the ground.

The UpTime Cloud application then displays the data, facilitates near-real-time fleet monitoring, and activates automation through alerts—all through a simple user experience. Now, Azur gets all the information that it needs in one platform, as well as weekly, automated flight summary reports, directly from the Uptime Cloud AWS platform. What are the benefits of achieving situational awareness? A maximized fleet and improved profitability.

React quickly when disruptions occur

Though airlines can’t control the weather, they can use ML and AI to improve how they react to disruptions, weather related or otherwise, more quickly and effectively. iFlight from IBS Software is a highly configurable platform for aircraft, flight, crew, and hub planning, management, and optimization. Its AI-driven tools highlight operational issues early, making it possible for airline teams to execute and communicate optimal recovery solutions quickly.

By indicating down-line impacts, iFlight helps minimize both the direct short-term cost of disruption (for example, revenue dilution, passenger compensation, and hotel accommodation) and the long term costs of passenger dissatisfaction.

One airline group turned to iFlight after multiple attempts to integrate end-to-end airline operations and crew management IT systems failed. It needed a better way to make collaborative decisions, from crew planning and management to process standardization and proactive disruption management. Using iFlight gave it a single view of truth, leading to $3million in savings each year.

The spike in travel demand in 2022 made it clear that travelers are still eager to meet in person, sightsee, and explore. To build loyalty and retain travelers, airlines must offer both the operational experience and customer service that today’s travelers expect.

To learn more about how AWS and its Partner solutions can help you navigate operational challenges, visit the Travel and Hospitality Solutions Library.