Airlines are using generative artificial intelligence to map out the future of travel, from bookings and complaints to in-flight streaming, with a focus on improving customer service and increasing the efficiency of operations.
Booking flights from your social media account, talking to an AI-powered chatbot, shorter queues at immigration checkpoints, customer complaints resolved within 48 hours, and personalised travel packages are all among changes we can expect in the coming years, Frank Meyer, chief digital officer at Etihad Airways, told The National.
“There will always be an app and a website, but on top of it, you probably will see new channels,” he said. “We've invested in a chat-based booking engine and it could well be that we master that challenge as part of our 2030 journey, and you could therefore make a booking talking to an AI agent.”
If a flight is delayed or cancelled, a passenger may in the future be able to use the airline's app for “self re-accommodation” to pick another flight or choose compensation, rather than head to a transfer desk, he said. “All of this will be automated. That's the plan at least. That's where we're headed.”
Customers can also expect to get personalised offers to match their preferences. “That can translate into proposals, packages or discounts on what we're offering to you. The starting point is we're trying to better anticipate what you'll be after,” Mr Meyer said.
“So the booking process will be more dynamic and more personal. We will use our knowledge to inspire you and make more proposals to you that will be relevant.”
The airline could also expand its customer offers on the aeroplane. “Think about the air experience as becoming more similar to being on the ground because the limitations of the bandwidth and the technology will fall away,” he said.
“Your in-flight entertainment will be integrated with your device and it will not only be a movie-playing system. In five years maybe you will be able to … order a Careem in the air to pick you up.”
Flight efficiencies
Up to 97 per cent of airlines and 82 per cent of airports plan to invest in AI by 2026, the Air Transport IT Insights report by Swiss aviation technology group Sita found in February. By 2026, more than 90 per cent of airlines surveyed plan to have IT in place to boost the efficiency of flight operations and aircraft turnaround because sustainability is high on the agenda, Sita said.
As the skies are becoming more crowded, flight delays are becoming an increasingly common headache for travellers.
Airlines and airports are harnessing the power of big data, machine learning and AI to predict and minimise flight delays “like never before”, Alex Brooker, vice president of research, development and discovery at Cirium, said in a June report.
Enter AI-powered delay prediction. By analysing “vast troves” of data from sources such as satellite imagery, radar, aircraft sensors and weather stations, machine learning algorithms can identify weather patterns and forecast delays with unprecedented accuracy, Mr Brooker said.
'Massive impact' on airlines
Generative AI will have a major impact on the airline industry, transforming operations, revenue management and pricing models, but carriers have been slow in adopting the new technology, Mr Meyer told the Aviation Future Week in Dubai this week.
“In five years from now we will not talk about GenAI all the time any more because it's become part of every end-user device, website, mobile app … but it will change substantially the way we are working.”
Airlines are “slow in adoption, so until it has proliferated all of our back-end systems and we really understand how we compute [the data], it will take time, but I do believe this really has a major impact to the point where our processes and our organisations will change.”
Data privacy concerns
At the three-day Aviation Future Week, participants explored the future potential of Web3, AI and extended reality (XR) to help drive better customer experiences and enhance the aviation industry's processes.
Experts emphasised the importance of data-sharing among industry stakeholders such as airlines, airports and government agencies, and the need for collaboration between academia and industry to harness the full potential of AI.
Speakers also highlighted concerns around the use of AI such as data privacy, the steep cost of implementing AI solutions and the complexity of extracting data from legacy systems.
“As AI models evolve, maintaining confidentiality and minimising algorithmic bias are key challenges,” Nils Lukas, assistant professor at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, said.
“We are researching technologies like differential privacy and homomorphic encryption to reduce privacy risks while maintaining model accuracy.”
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company Profile
Founder: Omar Onsi
Launched: 2018
Employees: 35
Financing stage: Seed round ($12 million)
Investors: B&Y, Phoenician Funds, M1 Group, Shorooq Partners
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
More on animal trafficking
New process leads to panic among jobseekers
As a UAE-based travel agent who processes tourist visas from the Philippines, Jennifer Pacia Gado is fielding a lot of calls from concerned travellers just now. And they are all asking the same question.
“My clients are mostly Filipinos, and they [all want to know] about good conduct certificates,” says the 34-year-old Filipina, who has lived in the UAE for five years.
Ms Gado contacted the Philippines Embassy to get more information on the certificate so she can share it with her clients. She says many are worried about the process and associated costs – which could be as high as Dh500 to obtain and attest a good conduct certificate from the Philippines for jobseekers already living in the UAE.
“They are worried about this because when they arrive here without the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] clearance, it is a hassle because it takes time,” she says.
“They need to go first to the embassy to apply for the application of the NBI clearance. After that they have go to the police station [in the UAE] for the fingerprints. And then they will apply for the special power of attorney so that someone can finish the process in the Philippines. So it is a long process and more expensive if you are doing it from here.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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McIlroy's struggles in 2016/17
European Tour: 6 events, 16 rounds, 5 cuts, 0 wins, 3 top-10s, 4 top-25s, 72,5567 points, ranked 16th
PGA Tour: 8 events, 26 rounds, 6 cuts, 0 wins, 4 top-10s, 5 top-25s, 526 points, ranked 71st
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
