Day-to-day operational challenges,
uncontrollable weather, and ongoing worker strikes are some factors
contributing to flight disruptions. For travelers, this disruption can range
from a change to their gate or aircraft – sometimes forcing passengers to deplane
after boarding has completed – to a flight that is rescheduled, missed or
canceled entirely.
The recent CrowdStrike IT incident
sparked global IT chaos and left several airlines scrambling for weeks to
recover. This resulted in the delay or cancellation of thousands of flights,
leaving passengers stranded and frustrated, with no resolution or even timeline
for resolution in sight.
In the seven days between August 29th and
September 4th, the US Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) prepared
to screen more than 17 million individuals. While airlines prioritize providing
a seamless, high-quality experience for travelers at all times, unexpected
disruptions during busy seasons, including delays and cancellations, mean this
is not always the case.
When disruptions occur, frustrated
passengers often direct their anger at airline staff, specifically their
customer service employees. Airlines need the right solutions to govern their
day-to-day operations to successfully manage disruptions and maintain customer
loyalty and satisfaction.
Tools for
Effective Disruption Response
Some of
the peak travel periods airlines must contend with are school breaks, summer travel, and the
end-of-year holiday season. Worryingly, recent research conducted by IBS Software identified
that 82 percent of aviation workers believe there are fewer resources to manage the
disruption during these busy periods.
Many airlines remain dependent upon
legacy systems, which rely on spreadsheets, paper documents and extensive
manual intervention to handle disruption events. Adopting and deploying an
integrated crew and ops platform – leveraging AI and machine learning – is
critical to transforming an airline's operations and providing successful,
timely and cost-effective remediation to disruption events. This approach
leverages the integrated platform to gain critical insights into schedule
management, aircraft utilization, crew planning and oversight, passenger
turnaround and connection operations, and overall aircraft maintenance.
As well as working to minimize costs and
reduce the risks of human errors, once an integrated platform is in place,
airlines can make more effective predictions on the impact of any schedule
changes, aircraft reallocation or crew change, responding promptly and
efficiently resolving disruptions in the event of a flight delay due to bad
weather - which in turn causes an impact to connecting flights, or when an
unexpected change in aircraft results from mechanical failure, airlines can
quickly take steps to schedule flights and adjust crew availability in
real-time.
Positive
Customer Experience Even Through Disruptions
At a time when customer expectations are at their highest, it
remains critical for airlines to ensure that they are best equipped to handle
disruptions internally to maintain customer satisfaction. According to a 2024
survey of aviation workers, 62 percent agree that customers now choose an airline
based on its reputation for handling disruption. With such high expectations,
to maintain crucial customer relationships and to help ensure that their
businesses remain profitable, airlines must invest in the right tools to
effectively manage disruption.
By investing in technologies like Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) systems, airlines become better equipped to communicate effectively with
their customers when unforeseen situations arise. Airline workers must be
empowered to make accurate decisions quickly when disruptions happen. The right
platforms allow staff to respond immediately to customer questions, address
customer concerns and successfully manage passenger frustration. These
frontline teams must remain calm enough to reassure customers even when they
don't necessarily have all the answers at that point in time. While an initial
lack of visibility will inevitably occur when unforeseen challenges arise, like
the CrowdStrike IT incident, it further reiterates the importance of investing
in the right technology to seamlessly, efficiently, and effectively manage
disruptions.
Flight disruptions represent just one example of how the aviation
industry is under pressure to remain competitive and maintain customer loyalty
and trust. Airlines must reevaluate their approaches to day-to-day operations,
including the systems and processes that are currently in place. Adopting
integrated platforms and CRM systems to manage flight operations and customer
interactions means airlines can improve disruption response and management
while taking a customer-first approach. More progressive airlines are evolving
to integrate and implement technology like AI within airline operations,
ultimately leading to the ideal state of predictive and automated disruption
recovery.
*About the Author: Julian Fish, SVP & Head of Aviation
Operations Solutions – IBS Software
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