How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Aviation Industry

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and expand, companies are seeing big changes in their field. Big-name brands are investing in AI technology to enhance their products and services to better serve their customers. The travel industry as a whole is being disrupted by AI.

From automobiles to railways, the way we get around is changing for the better. While the race for an autonomous car and improvements to our driving experience remain in the headlines, the airline industry is making strides as well.

Commercial airline travel is an economic engine that generated an estimated $168.2 billion in operating revenue in 2016. Ticket fares represented 74.5 percent of operating revenue or $125.2 billion, and airline passenger traffic is projected to double over the next two decades.

Today, leading airlines are exploring how artificial intelligence can help them keep pace with customer demand and improve operational efficacy, speed, and customer satisfaction. Below are a few changes we have seen, and what to expect in the near future.

Virtual Assistants

AI-based virtual assistants help airline companies improve pilot productivity and efficiency by reducing repetitive tasks such as changing radio channels, reading wind forecasts, and providing position information on request, among others. AI-enabled virtual assistants can handle these recurring tasks. Companies such as Garmin (US) offer AI-enabled audio panels, which are useful for pilots. Airlines also use virtual assistants to improve customer service.

AI-enabled virtual assistants can provide instant answers to simple questions. Common questions include flight status and services/offerings (audio, video, Wi-Fi) on flights. This allows the human customer service representatives to attend to more important issues. Virtual assistants also help passengers book and plan their trips. Many companies are creating their own apps to help customers automate travel-related tasks.

Gone are the days when you have to book your flights and hotels, rent a car, and manage your itinerary all on your own. AI and the virtual assistants in these apps can collect data from you through simple prompts, then automate the tasks for you.

Aircraft Monitoring

Behind the scenes, companies are making back-end changes to monitor the “health” of their aircraft. Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu says advanced analytics are required to keep planes flying more than 16 hours a day to spread out its costs. AI systems can predict when maintenance is needed before a part breaks, allowing quick repairs and minimizing time on the ground.

“That kind of data on an ongoing basis will make our entire fleet much, much more efficient and that’s one of the real drivers, one of the real benefits of investing in new generation technology,” says Rovinescu.

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So-called “health monitoring” of planes lets data be analyzed faster and more accurately, enabling preventative actions to be conveyed to airlines immediately. AI could eventually be used across all aircraft systems, including brakes, generators, valves, engines, and avionics. This would extend the lives of parts and subsequently minimize disruptions, offering huge savings for operators.

AI systems using natural language processing can scan millions of maintenance logs to predict component failure and recommend fixes. This will not only save airline companies money and provide real-time data to schedule repairs, but also keep travelers safer during their trips. Any issues with the planes are caught ahead of the flight and taken care of before a plane hits the runway.

No more sitting on the runway for hours when they need to refuel or fix a part. With this upgrade to AI and aircraft repairs, companies are drastically reducing the delays passengers face due to malfunctions. That is good news for all.

Traveler Experience

AI is already being used at airports and by airlines for a number of things. United Airlines has teamed up with Amazon Alexa to help customers check in and learn about their flights. Delta Air Lines is using self-service kiosks that use facial recognition technology to verify customer identity by matching customer faces to passport photos.

Other airlines are using AI before customers even get to the airport to upsell loyalty program passengers on business-class upgrades or extra baggage by having AI automatically design the website checkout process to appeal to different user groups. AI can also help reduce flight overbooking.

By analyzing past flyer information and historical passenger data, as well as changing weather patterns for certain routes, AI could predict the likelihood that certain passengers won’t show up or will switch to another flight. The AI could then give ground staff up-to-the-minute information on how many people are likely to board. This could help with the problem of having to remove passengers from planes that have already boarded.

AI is being explored in the commercial airline segment of the aviation industry and is being integrated across multiple areas including customer service, airport and flight operations. It’s projected that the cost of airport development, specifically improving and modernizing existing infrastructure and operations, will exceed $1 trillion over the next fifteen years.

While the leading commercial passenger airlines are relatively early adopters of AI, industry projections depict a business environment primed for innovation and automation.