From tsunamis to ash clouds and global financial crises, the travel industry has seen its share of setbacks over the past few years. The industry has always handled these events with admirable resilience and managed to bounce back quickly from each disaster.

COVID-19 is different. The global pandemic has had an unparalleled and devastating impact on the aviation industry with airlines grounding their entire fleets for months. Over 60% of flights were cancelled worldwide, with bookings in April 2020 alone dropping a staggering 95% compared to the same month the previous year, and 75 million jobs are said to be at risk. Yet there is light at the end of the tunnel as some countries have started to open their borders and air travel is tentatively resuming.

Although the future is uncertain for everyone – and especially for those in the travel industry – history teaches us that change is inevitable and unavoidable. As we see a cautious return to the skies, and we rethink the future of the industry together, innovation will be key to overcome the challenges and emerge stronger from the crisis. 

Looking to the future, we foresee a number of potential trends for the aviation industry. Innovation through solutions like Amadeus Airline Platform, a mission-critical platform that forms the technology backbone for airlines, can help carriers better position themselves for a prosperous future.

The Amadeus Airline Platform connects together Amadeus’ comprehensive offering for airlines, including the revolutionary Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS). Underpinned by big data analytics, machine learning algorithms, and cloud computing, the platform enables airlines to harness the full power of Amadeus technology to inspire, travelers and grow their business. 

1.       Focus on delivering a frictionless traveller experience

Simple activities in our lives like a trip to the grocery store are now difficult, risky, or even prohibited, and it is therefore understandable that travellers will be hesitant or anxious to board a flight in this new COVID world. To rebuild traveller trust, it is imperative that airlines address these fears while they continue to focus on delivering a seamless traveller experience.

Technology lies at the heart of this goal. Through innovative solutions like the Altéa PSS, customer preferences can be addressed at every stage of the reservation process, as airlines can use secure customer data to customize services. For passengers, this means faster and simpler check-in procedures as well as re-accommodation in a matter of seconds in times of disruption.

During the current period of uncertainty, relevant real-time information is more important than ever before. Amadeus technology allows airlines to support customers throughout the journey, providing real-time, personalized alerts to inform of flight changes, services or offers.

2.       Improve airline systems to allow for agility

COVID-19 has effectively reset the travel industry. Every tourism company and airline is taking a hard look at its operations, re-assessing its ways of working and adapting to the ‘new normal’. In this new world, the ability to make fast decisions has become crucial.

Over the past few months, many airlines scaled back operations and refocused some of their fleets to support repatriation flights and medical supply shipments. Technology played a critical role in helping carriers achieve agile aircraft configurations.

Airlines repurposed their aircraft by adding cargo space to flight cabins and some added extra space around passengers and families to apply maximum safety measures. Key to this agility was the seamless integration between airline systems from inventory to reservation, departure control, and offer management; all core PSS capabilities.

Integration across the Amadeus Altéa suite enabled airlines to easily deploy real-time seating, cabin, and cargo reconfigurations. Business rules and other setting adjustments could all be configured from a single user interface for automatic and flexible application across the airline’s entire network, by market, origin, and destination and other variables.

Looking to the future, fully integrated systems also mean that even if unforeseen events like last-minute aircraft changes occur during operational windows, airlines can immediately and automatically reseat passengers and adjust weight and load balance. With end-to-end automated aircraft configuration and reconfiguration, airlines avoid expensive, time-consuming and resource-intensive manual intervention.

3.       Collaboration and consolidation in aviation

It is likely that consolidation and concentration will lead to a major industry reshaping in all regions. Some airline groups are expected to become stronger, accelerating strategic investments, while others may not recover.

We also anticipate a number of significant changes in the aviation landscape with new codeshare and interline agreements between different parties.

Smart airline inventory management solutions, like Altéa, use advanced availability management techniques, dynamic customer identification and sophisticated airline policy controls to automate flight schedules, codeshare agreements, re-accommodation and seating. This helps maximize airline network yield, increasing revenues and improving efficiency.

Collaboration has been important through these past months, as aviation stakeholders along the value chain unite to ensure the survival of the industry. This is where the community element of Altéa comes in. Because airline PSSs share common processes, Altéa delivers a common core functionality to a community of airlines, providing leading technology at a much lower cost. This approach is a departure from the high cost, on-going IT development within each airline. And thanks to Altéa’s open systems design, Amadeus is able to develop additional IT solutions for airlines such as loyalty management, revenue management and financial management systems.

This collaboration is also due to the founding principles of our Amadeus Airline Platform, which is an agile and open system, enabling third parties such as start-ups to collaborate and develop on top of Amadeus technology to meet airline needs. This approach fast-tracks development from concept to market and allows Amadeus’ airline customers to always benefit from the best technology and most innovative concepts in the marketplace.

4.       Explore smart revenue models

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released  analysis showing that the airline industry’s global debt could rise to $550 billion by year-end; a $120 billion increase over debt levels at the start of 2020.

With these alarming numbers, it is clear that modern, state of the art revenue management will be crucial for airlines to move quickly to recovery. Amadeus has incorporated artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms into its revenue management solutions. Although these solutions often rely on historical data to understand behaviours, Altéa has shown great resilience in the current market context, building models where there is no precedent upon which to rely. 

Altéa detects the patterns of recovery at different market, country and route levels, and these patterns help airlines make quick, efficient, and smart revenue management business decisions.

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Despite the aviation industry navigating its greatest challenge to date, airlines can still use this time to prepare for the future. The Altéa suite is widely used by leading airlines in the world, large and small. The newest airline to have adopted the Altéa suite, TAAG Angola Airlines, the flag carrier of the Republic of Angola, recently said it is excited to be able to streamline its operations thanks to Amadeus’ technology.

“In these times of uncertainty, we are reassured by dependable partners like Amadeus, that we can rely on to take our airline to its next stage of growth. We look forward to getting back to flying and continuing our expansion drive in the region and internationally with Amadeus at our side,” says Chief Executive Officer for TAAG Angola Airlines, Dr Rui Carreira.

Cabin crew will wear the PPE suit over their uniforms in addition to safety goggles, gloves and a mask to provide even greater reassurance to customers in addition to enhanced hygienic measures already in place. The airline now requires passengers from Monday, May 25, to wear face coverings inflight and recommends people bring their own for fit and comfort purposes

The airline has also applied other additional health and safety measures onboard its flights, Business Class meals will be served on a tray instead of a table set up, and a cutlery wrap will be offered to passengers as an alternative to individual cutlery service, in an effort to reduce contact between the crew and the passengers. While in Economy Class, all meals and cutlery are served sealed as usual. Additionally, large bottles of hand sanitiser will be placed in the galleys and made available for both cabin crew and passengers. All social areas onboard the aircraft have also been closed to observe social distancing measures.

Passengers flying Business Class can avail of the enhanced privacy the Qsuite provides include sliding privacy partitions and fully closing doors creating a private sanctuary. Passengers can also opt to the ‘Do Not Disturb (DND)’ indicator in their private suite, if they wish to limit their interactions with the cabin crew.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “At Qatar Airways, we have  introduced these additional safety measures onboard our flights to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of our passengers and cabin crew, and to limit the spread of coronavirus. As an airline, we maintain the highest possible hygiene standards to ensure that we can fly people home safely during this time and provide even greater reassurance that safety is our number one priority.

“Seeing as we are still flying the world’s largest international network by operating flights to more than 30 destinations around the world, and aiming to grow our network again in the coming months, these onboard safety measures will assist us in achieving our goals.”

Qatar Airways continues to implement the highest standards of health and safety. Its aircraft are regularly disinfected using cleaning products recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Its home airport, Hamad International Airport, has also invested in deploying disinfectant robots, fully autonomous mobile emitting concentrated UV-C light known to be effective in eliminating majority of infectious microorganisms.

Qatar Airways’ aircraft feature the most advanced air filtration systems, equipped with industrial-size HEPA filters that remove 99.97% of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective protection against infection. All the airline’s onboard linen and blankets are washed, dried and pressed at microbial lethal temperatures, while its headsets are removed of ear foams and rigorously sanitized after each flight. These items are then sealed into individual packaging by staff wearing hygienic disposable gloves.

Meal service utensils and cutlery are washed with detergents and rinsed with demineralized fresh water at temperatures that kill pathogenic bacteria.

Cabin crew have received training on how to minimise their chances of contracting or spreading the infection, are thermally screened before the departure of flights and after their arrival, and are quarantined and tested if any colleagues or passengers on a flight shows any symptoms of infection or test positive for the virus.

In addition, Qatar Airways has revised its distribution of cabin crew on flights, sending two groups on short-haul and medium-haul flights – the first to manage the outbound trip, the second to manage the inbound trip. For long-haul flights, crew members who have to stay overnight in a foreign city can only travel in Qatar Airways-approved transport and must remain in their rooms, limiting human interactions.

In terms of passengers, the airline is encouraging social distancing where possible, especially on flights with lighter loads.

Distancing is also implemented during the boarding process, ensuring passengers are allocated seats far apart from each other. The airline is also encouraging passengers to follow hygiene practices recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), such as regular hand washing and refraining from touching the face.

Given this, Amadeus and Air India are pleased to announce that the airline will benefit from the world’s largest and most diverse travel seller community, using the best professional sales technology, underpinned by the Amadeus Travel Platform.  

Travel sellers in India will have access to the airline’s pure full international content only, while travel sellers in the rest of the world will have access to the full range of Air India’s content, both domestic and international.  Working with Amadeus will help accelerate the airline’s growth in 2020 and beyond, an important step in the airline’s vision and renewed relationship with Amadeus.

Meenakshi Mallik, Commercial Director, Air India said: “We are pleased to renew our relationship with Amadeus to support our growth strategy globally and hope that this is the first step in our new journey together. We look forward to working closer with Amadeus to support agencies and travellers in the future.”

Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President, Airlines, Asia Pacific, Amadeus said: “We are glad to once again work with Air India and play a positive role in the airline’s growth strategy. Amadeus’ simple, open and agile system will allow Air India to innovate, experiment and collaborate to create new products which will add value to customers and create upsell or cross-sell opportunities.”

Amadeus has signed a number of important strategic deals in India in recent months, with Air India added to a list of airlines that include Spice Jet and Vistara. Both Indigo and Go Air also have their IT agreements with Navitaire, an Amadeus company. In addition, Amadeus has strategic partnerships with some of the largest travel sellers in India, such as MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Yatra, and PayTM; and some of the major hotel groups and aggregators in India such as Oberoi, Taj, ITC Hotels and The Leela Palaces. From an airport IT perspective, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport also use Amadeus’ leading airport technology.

Express Check-In, which has already been rolled out at all the airports from which FlySafair operates, enables the airline’s queue combers to check-in those passengers without checked-in luggage before they even reach the check-in counter.

“Helping passengers stick to their tight schedules has always been a massive priority for FlySafair. It’s this mission that drove us to be named the most on-time airline in the world in 2017 by airline data specialist, OAG, and now sees us develop the capability to check passengers in while they are still queuing,” says Kirby Gordon, head of sales and distribution at FlySafair.

The innovative new check-in technology was developed in conjunction with Blue Market Retail Solutions, the same company that partnered FlySafair in becoming the first airline to offer card transactions on all its flights using ground-breaking POS technology.

Using this same technology, FlySafair attendants can search for the passenger’s flight ticket using their reference number, surname or date of birth, and then produce their boarding pass directly from the device.

Designated queue combers will be easy for passengers to spot as they will be wearing pink sashes to identify them.

“This solution will play a major role in helping to reduce queuing times, especially at airports like George where wait times can be problematic,” says Theron Uys, director of business development at BlueMarket Retail Solutions.

“In true FlySafair style, the airline continues to challenge what can be done within the aviation sphere. It truly is one of the most dynamic and innovative companies we’ve come across,” he adds.

According to the statement from the airline said that flights to Lamu, Malindi and Ukunda are well served so the company will focus on other routes.

“This gives the company the chance to serve you better regionally by redeploying capacity to where it’s needed more,” Air Kenya General Manager Capt. Dino Bisleti said in the statement.

Currently, other airlines serving the three routes include Fly540, Safarilink and Jambo Jet, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways.

Air Kenya further revealed plans to launch flights for the Mara- Entebbe – Mara route via Kisumu.

This is subject to approval from regulatory authorities and will see the airline partner with AeroLink Uganda, its Ugandan subsidiary.

The airline will fly to 10 destinations from its hub in Antananarivo, utilising a fleet consisting of four ATR 72s and three DHT Twin Otters. The destinations served are Nosy Be, Antsiranana, Toamasina and Toliara with two daily flights while Saint Marie, Sambava, Mahajanga, Morondava and Maroantsetra which will initially be served once a day.

According to ATW Online, earlier this year, Air Madagascar and Air Austral set out plans to align their fleets, jointly developing their Saint Denis de la Reunion and Antananarivo hubs and boosting their long-haul and domestic networks as part of a major plan to be the leading player in the Indian Ocean.

That followed a strategic partnership deal La Reunion-based Air Austral closed with Air Madagascar in November 2017 that saw it take a 49% stake, with the condition that Madagascan authorities would clear the airline’s debts and improve airport infrastructure on the island.

The two companies pledged to focus on long-haul network growth as well as the potential of the domestic market in Madagascar.

The launch of Tsaradia, which means “have a good trip” in Madagascar’s national language, Malagasy, was initially planned for April 2018.

“The consolidation and development of the domestic market form one of the three main strands of the Air Madagascar turnaround plan, along with developing leadership in the international segment including on Madagascar-France routes and reinforcing cooperation on the regional network,” Air Madagascar said.

The prime minister was due to fly from the capital Maputo to Niassa in the northeast on official business on Thursday last week.

In an official statement, the airline responded: “LAM Mozambique Airlines confirms that because of limited finances it was impossible to supply aircraft with fuel meaning that the first flights of the day could not be operated.”

“After talks with the fuel supplier, aircraft were refuelled and flights resumed at 11:20 am (0920 GMT),” it added calling the incident “embarrassing”. Departure boards at Maputo’s airport showed that every LAM flight due to operate on Thursday had been cancelled.

According to AFP, Mozambique has been in the grip of a deep financial crisis since 2015 when hidden state borrowing of about $2 billion (1.7 billion euros) was discovered, prompting international donors to terminate aid contributions.

A six-year ban on the airline operating in the European Union was lifted last year. It had been imposed because of what the EU said was a lack of oversight by aviation authorities.

Nearly 70 guests, including the Spanish Ambassador to South Africa, representatives of O.R. Tambo International Airport, the South African department of Tourism, travel agencies, corporate customers and media, attended the event and were able to visit the aircraft.

Celia Muñoz, Iberia’s head of Sales in EMEA and Asia, said: “Johannesburg is a long-standing destination linked to Iberia’s history and now one of our aircraft carries proudly its name wherever it flies to with the aim to promote the city as a tourist and business destination”.

“As Airport Management, we are excited to celebrate together with Iberia Airlines its maiden flight to this airport, in its newest aircraft which is the A330-200, aptly named ‘Johannesburgo’,” commented Ms Bongiwe Pityi, General Manager, O.R. Tambo International Airport.

“As the largest and busiest airport in Africa, we are very proud that we are one of twelve (12) hand-picked routes globally which will be operated and serviced by this new aircraft. Statistics show that over the past 12 months, from May 2017 to May 2018, Iberia Airlines has seen a 7.69% year-on-year increase in air traffic movements as well as an 8% year-on-year increase in departing passengers.

As part of our ongoing relationship, our ambition is to partner with Iberia Airlines so they continue to achieve consistent and sustainable growth which will stimulate our regional economy leading to job creation.”

More efficient aircraft

The aircraft “Johannesburgo”, with the registration no. EC-MUD, is the 12th A330-200 received by the Spanish airline and is currently flying to cities in Latin America (Havana, Medellin, Rio de Janeiro or Santo Domingo), the United States (Los Angeles and San Francisco), as well as to Johannesburg and Asia (Shanghai and Tokyo).

The A330-200 is a twin-engine aircraft, more fuel efficient, and of the MTOW 242Tn type, which give it a range of 11,500 km. and a maximum take-off weight of up to 242 tonnes.

Since 2011, Iberia has ordered 56 new aircraft, including eight A330-300, 12 A330-200, 16 A350-900 and 20 A320Neo. The airline has also refurbished its 17 A340-600s with new cabins.

Improved customer experience

The “Johannesburgo” has 19 seats in Business and 269 in Economy class. On board, Iberia customers can enjoy the new long-haul cabins. Seats that unfold into 2m-long beds, all with direct access to the aisle, and a 15.4” touch screen are the main features of the Business class, while Economy seats are 46 cm wide and have individual 9” screens, as well as an adjustable headrest.

Passengers in both Business and Economy cabins can enjoy an extensive entertainment programme with some 70 new films every month, in different languages, 111 television series and documentaries, nearly 800 audio options, and 18 video games. There is a special entertainment channel for children. Wi-Fi, offered in both classes, uses the KU band, allowing a greater download speed.

Iberia resumed its operations from Johannesburg in August 2016 with three non-stop flights a week to Madrid. Since then, it has offered nearly 169,000 seats and the number of passengers carried has positively developed. Though most passengers fly point to point between Johannesburg and Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Porto, Dusseldorf, London and Cape Town are the main connecting destinations feeding this route.

Effective immediately, customers will be able to book and manage Etihad’s chauffeur services directly through the airline’s upgraded mobile optimised website.

Customers can now book and confirm their chauffeur service up to 12 hours prior to their flight’s departure. The new system, created in partnership with Vxceed Technologies, also allows guests to amend or cancel their chauffeur booking, thereby giving them greater control of their travel requirements.

The new features will enable customers to receive SMS and e-mail confirmation for their scheduled pick-up. Moreover, customers can also connect with their chauffeur prior to being collected.

Jamal Ahmad Al Awadhi, Etihad Airways Head of Guest Experience Commercial, said: “This new service enhancement provides a seamless transportation experience for our guests, and enables them to be in direct contact with their chauffeur at all times.

The optimised chauffeur service, operated with Mercedes-Benz E-Class luxury sedans, will facilitate timely pick-up and drop-off for customers, and enable them to provide their live feedback after each trip, helping to always ensure the highest level of service in line with customers’ needs.

Future system enhancements will enable Etihad Guest members to use their miles to book a private transfer for themselves within the UAE, irrespective of which cabin they are travelling in.

Etihad Airways has a strategic partnership with Mercedes-Benz which allows the German-made luxury vehicles to be used for all the airline’s eligible premium customer transfers within the UAE.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class vehicles chauffeur Etihad Airways’ First Class guests air-side from gate to aircraft and vice versa, if the aircraft is at a remote stand at Abu Dhabi International Airport. A fleet of premier Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicles chauffeurs all land-side transfers between the airport and the customer’s pick up and drop off points in the UAE.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said: “We are very happy and proud to be a very strong instrument in connecting Africa in line with our motto of the last 70 years-Bringing Africa together and closer to the rest of the world. When we open these three destinations, we may look at only the direct services we are going to operate between Addis and these destinations. But what is more important and may not be visible is that we are connecting these destinations with more than 100 destinations all over the world. Kisangani and Mbuji Mayi will be two additional points to the already three points we fly in the DRC; so we are now flying to Kinshasa, Goma, Mbuji Mayi, Kisangani and Lubumbashi. “The beautiful island of Nosy-Be is a popular tourist destination for Europeans, and since we announced that we are going to connect it with our network in a direct service, the Madagascar Embassy in Addis has been overwhelmed by visa requests. This shows that the trend is changing; nowadays Africans are visiting African friends for tourism which is very encouraging development.”

With the launch of the new flights, Ethiopian now serves 58 destinations in Africa and more than 100 destinations globally, solidifying its stature as a veteran Pan- African airline with the largest number of destinations in the continent.