Digitalization in the aviation industry
There are so many digital solutions that we consider self-evident nowadays while traveling that it is hard to remember if it used to be carried out differently. Hardly anyone could be impressed with easiness of purchasing flight tickets online, online check-in possibility, mobile boarding passes, self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks; automated passport control machines, onboard wi-fi connection or contactless payment opportunity. I have been working in aviation industry since 2016 and during this time I have witnessed how much digitalization and digital transformation has happened also “behind the scenes”.
Throughout the years lots of documentation has been converted to the digital form: pilots having an access to flight route plans from tablet computers, including fuel consumption information, weather conditions and navigation maps; cargo agents handling the Electronic Air Waybills (e-AWB) instead of “traditional” paper versions of the document and thus, supporting the e-freight initiative; ground and cabin crew being provided with various apps that serve as customer data information systems covering details such as loyalty program status, flight connections and special dietary requirements; channels for filing various reports, as well as, digital compensation voucher issuers.
Communication between departments have shapeshifted owing to digital tools, for example, nowadays boarding process can be initiated with a simple click on a mobile phone without any direct contact between ground and cabin crew; and flight crew has a possibility to be in touch with technicians and mechanics regarding a state of the aircraft and to alert if any malfunctions occur, while still being in the air. The near future of many sectors within aviation industry is even more exciting, as there are so many initiatives and projects that I regard very viable. Next, I will share my thoughts regarding them.
From a customer’s point of view, automation process of the services will be likely enhanced even further, and I believe that there will be more focus on generalizing self-service solutions more extensively. International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pursuing paperless travel document and boarding process with biometric recognition with its One ID program. Some examples of the first implementations towards that can be seen at Dubai international airport and Seoul Gimpo airport; and I do consider biometric recognition will become even more common. That would increase the possibility of replacing gate service agents with self-boarding gates and customs officers with novel automated gates.
Furthermore, companies like BAGTAG are offering the solution for customers to skip the bag tag printing-step of their customer journey at the airport, but rather replacing that with an electronic bag tag device that can be set up to display correct details, owing to a communication between the device itself, a special app and airline systems. Consequently, that could result in less demand of the tag printer-kiosks, as well as, staff involved with the process. Customers will be likely encouraged to patronize with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven chatbots or AI-based virtual agents concerning subjects like making adjustments to bookings, upgrades, reroutings, compensation claims and ancillary sales, rather than being in touch with call center or ground customer service representatives.
From employees’ point of view, most likely the delegation of specific tasks to digital tools will be expanded, for example, part of monitoring and flow management process of air traffic controllers could be assigned to AI. “Traditional” classroom and hands-on training sessions of engineers and cabin crew held by instructors could be converted to training exercises utilizing special devices, such as, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and Microsoft HoloLens. Manual labour tasks within catering, cargo and baggage handling could be completed by robots.
Overall, all the above-mentioned alterations might result in the reconsideration need of the airport premises. Provided that people would use all those digital solutions, the processes would be more streamlined, congestions could be avoided and hence, it would be easier to predict the required time for compulsory formalities. That raises a question whether customers would want to minimize the time spent at the airport itself. Of course, when considering customers, aviation industry strives for creating a unified harmonized travel experience. It is extremely challenging to achieve that worldwide simultaneously, as so many countries are at totally different development stages and all the above-mentioned reformations will require a lot of investments into a new infrastructure. Besides, many jobs of operational personnel could experience a remarkable transformation or even vanish. However, I do believe that new jobs will be created. All in all, it will be fascinating to witness how will digitalization and digital transformation progress in the aviation industry.
Vulnerability of open digital society
Nowadays, people are much more aware of their personal rights and probably, especially after a general data protection regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018, majority has started to pay much more attention to what, how, where, with whom and for which purposes personal data is being collected, shared and stored. Users are able to become acquainted with all the above-mentioned terms and are able to request that that data would be modified and erased.
In the field of aviation, safe and secure data handling and transfer is crucial, not only because of comfort and convenience aspects, but also from health and safety perspectives. Aviation sector handles lots of sensitive identification data and payment method details. In addition, other essential information regarding customers, such as, dietary requirements (for example, allergens) or specific health conditions (for example, diabetes and pregnancy) should be easily and securely spread between travel agencies, air carriers, ground handlers and catering suppliers, as well as codeshare partners and alliances to avoid any inconveniences or even emergency situations.
As the industry operates globally, the complexity factor increases as legislation differs quite much in various countries. However, it is good to remember that all companies must comply with the GDPR even if not operating within the European Union (EU) region when regarding the data privacy of EU states’ citizens. All the initiatives discussed in the previous paragraph are indeed fascinating and beneficial, yet bringing more interconnectivity between systems and more digital solutions cause challenges of maintaining sufficient cybersecurity measures and increase the risk of cyberattacks, like identity thefts and credit card scams.
After the GDPR came into effect, various operations within my company were supplemented by numerous new measures; employees have received additional training on the topic; email encryption and multi-factor authentication have been put to use, as well as, additional firewalls have been installed; just to name a few. Airlines collect many information details of customers with the purpose of providing more personalized offers and service in the future; naturally aiming to achieve higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. Consequently, that raises a question of how companies will be able to convince customers to continue doing that, as more and more individuals are becoming extremely conscious about protecting and limiting access to their personal data; and assure that sufficient cybersecurity measures are taken and probability of personal data ending up in the wrong place and falling into the wrong hands are next to nothing. I guess that does require a leap of faith, huh?
Self reflection
I have to admit that it was challenging to adjust myself to write in a more relaxed manner, as I have never tried blogging before and I mainly write academic texts. WordPress platform was also unfamiliar to me. The orientation materials were a bit outdated, but they inspired me to explore for novel available information. The whole digitalization and digital transformation theme got me also thinking what kind of skills and competences would I have to acquire, in order to stay up-to-date and be competitive on the job market in the future. I do not have much knowledge about data protection and cybersecurity, but both topics are highly important, both in professional and personal life.
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Hi Valensija and thank you for your interesting thoughts and insights on the subjects! Even though I come from a very different working field, I can easily relate that it is hard to even remember how (harder) things were done before! Digitalisation has truly helped and made our lives easier in especially aviation. Your aviation world has a new sector compared to mine, with the fact of operating globally and complying also global regulations. And while the healthcare sector has similarities to aviation in high importance on data security and data protection, our sectors look at these important topics from a bit different views. Aviation has to also look at these topics from an overall security point of view.