World Aviation Festival, Lisbon 2025
Last week I was lucky enough to attend World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon (7th – 10th October). From speaking with colleagues face-to-face to attending some of the exceptional talks on offer it was evident to me that the industry is at a critical inflection point, with airlines worldwide racing to modernise operations, embrace AI, and reimagine customer experience to adapt to what continues to bean increasingly competitive market.
It was a fantastic event which offered great insight into the sector, with so many of the aviation industry together in one place. On the first evening of the conference, we hosted networking drinks at Sky Bar Oriente – offering excellent food and drinks and brilliant views of the city. We were joined by businesses operating across different parts of the aviation landscape, but who all shared the commonality that technology is the key driving force behind business growth. We want to thank you all again for joining us and making the event such a success. We’ll be bringing our drinks reception back next year so keep your eyes peeled for registration if you’re planning to attend the 2026 event!
There was so much to take away from the three days we spent at World Aviation Festival but in this blog, I’ve summed up some of the key themes that ran across the event and that will likely shape the industry as we move forward.
From AI-driven pricing systems managing thousands of route pairs to deployment across multiple transformation domains, artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential if organisations want to keep pace with consumer expectations. The key challenge in this area is scaling beyond proof-of-concepts (POCs). Leading airlines are now adopting top-down strategic approaches with clear 2030 transformation goals that will drive efficiency, improve customer experience, and support revenue growth – a lot of which will be powered by AI.
A clear example of this is multimodal AI implementations. Some carriers are using conversational AI to eliminate wait times for customers entirely and deliver real-time, empathetic support across voice and digital channels. The result for customers is quick, efficient customer service which allows them to resolve complex issues like rebooking without waiting for human intervention.
Perhaps the festival's most striking revelation was that technology isn't the biggest barrier to successful digital transformation, people are. Airlines with safety-first DNA often struggle with the risk appetite transformation requires meaning implementing changes in attitudes and new ways of doing things isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
Success depends on C-suite engagement, breaking down organisational silos, and bridging the gap between data analysts and business users. Throughout the event leading carriers emphasised the importance of iterative implementation, start small then scale, this will not only allow for problems to be spotted early but also support change management across your teams as they get used to the new normal.
Airlines possess vast amounts of customer data but often struggle to deploy it meaningfully. This wealth of information can be used to help personalise and enrich customer journeys. The industry is moving towards micro-segmentation, dynamic bundling, and contextual offers; balancing digital innovation with the human touch and ensuring transparency in data usage. However, speakers also identified the challenges in this area.
Data quality is a huge factor when it comes to successfully deploying a data-driven enrichment programme however, fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and the importance of clean data is a complex process to navigate. Equally, large data sets come with security requirements and if your programmes use AI to deploy them, ensuring this is done in an ethical, compliant way is essential.
Strategic partnerships between airlines and major technology providers such as Amadeus, Sabre and OpenJaw (to name a few) signal a new era for airline retailing. In a recent article, McKinsey estimated that airline retail will be a $45 billion business by 2030 as a result of “modern retailing” practices. This value extends beyond ticket sales, encompassing areas such as personalised offers, dynamic pricing, and enhanced digital experiences that help tailor products and services more closely to customer needs.
One key area of focus is ‘Offer and Order’ frameworks which provide a contemporary retail solution that revolutionises airline product sales and management. By leveraging existing data insights, this framework creates tailored offerings informed by customers' past buying patterns. It delivers a significantly more agile and adaptable retail experience designed to drive higher conversion rates. The system's effectiveness is further amplified when artificial intelligence is deployed to interpret data and construct customised packages for specific customers or targeted customer segments. Airlines are testing the approach on specific routes and markets first, moving from reactive, scripted solutions to agentic AI and exploring the full potential of click purchasing on tailored packages. This is definitely one to watch as it has the potential to completely transform how travellers shop.
Technology underpins all of this potential. Partnerships with technology companies will require commercial data access, open industry standards, shared risk models, and proper new distribution capability (NDC) implementation.
The most exciting part of the festival for Leighton was the consistent message that cloud technology is the backbone of modern aviation retailing, giving airlines the power to create personalised, dynamic offers at scale across all their sales channels at once.
Cloud platforms handle massive amounts of real-time data such as customer profiles, past purchases, available inventory, and current market conditions, to build tailored offers on the fly (pun intended).
This setup supports the API-first approach that's crucial for NDC and ‘Offer & Order’ management systems, making it easy to connect with travel sellers, aggregators, and direct booking channels while keeping product info and pricing consistent everywhere.
The beauty of the cloud is its flexibility, it scales up or down based on demand without airlines needing to invest heavily in their own servers. It also makes rolling out new features, updates, and AI-powered tools for dynamic pricing much faster and simpler. Ultimately, it lets airlines run their retail operations from anywhere and distribute their products globally without lag.
This is Leighton’s bread and butter - due to our long-standing partnership with British Airways (over 25 years) - we have been at the forefront of modern cloud architecture within aviation for well over a decade so it’s great to see the true potential of this type of approach being recognised.
Despite technological advances, fragmented processes and disconnected systems still challenge travellers. The goal isn't eliminating disruptions, it's creating resilient, trust-centric ecosystems that resolve issues proactively and keep travellers happy at every touchpoint.
Industry leaders emphasised that emotional connections through empathy and data-driven personalisation define the new competitive landscape within aviation.
The technology exists. The business case is proven. Success now requires disciplined prioritisation, cross-functional collaboration, and the courage to transform; one step, one route, one customer at a time.
Last week I was lucky enough to attend World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon (7th – 10th October). From speaking with colleagues face-to-face to attending some of the exceptional talks on offer it was evident to me that the industry is at a critical inflection point, with airlines worldwide racing to modernise operations, embrace AI, and reimagine customer experience to adapt to what continues to bean increasingly competitive market.
It was a fantastic event which offered great insight into the sector, with so many of the aviation industry together in one place. On the first evening of the conference, we hosted networking drinks at Sky Bar Oriente – offering excellent food and drinks and brilliant views of the city. We were joined by businesses operating across different parts of the aviation landscape, but who all shared the commonality that technology is the key driving force behind business growth. We want to thank you all again for joining us and making the event such a success. We’ll be bringing our drinks reception back next year so keep your eyes peeled for registration if you’re planning to attend the 2026 event!
There was so much to take away from the three days we spent at World Aviation Festival but in this blog, I’ve summed up some of the key themes that ran across the event and that will likely shape the industry as we move forward.
From AI-driven pricing systems managing thousands of route pairs to deployment across multiple transformation domains, artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential if organisations want to keep pace with consumer expectations. The key challenge in this area is scaling beyond proof-of-concepts (POCs). Leading airlines are now adopting top-down strategic approaches with clear 2030 transformation goals that will drive efficiency, improve customer experience, and support revenue growth – a lot of which will be powered by AI.
A clear example of this is multimodal AI implementations. Some carriers are using conversational AI to eliminate wait times for customers entirely and deliver real-time, empathetic support across voice and digital channels. The result for customers is quick, efficient customer service which allows them to resolve complex issues like rebooking without waiting for human intervention.
Perhaps the festival's most striking revelation was that technology isn't the biggest barrier to successful digital transformation, people are. Airlines with safety-first DNA often struggle with the risk appetite transformation requires meaning implementing changes in attitudes and new ways of doing things isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
Success depends on C-suite engagement, breaking down organisational silos, and bridging the gap between data analysts and business users. Throughout the event leading carriers emphasised the importance of iterative implementation, start small then scale, this will not only allow for problems to be spotted early but also support change management across your teams as they get used to the new normal.
Airlines possess vast amounts of customer data but often struggle to deploy it meaningfully. This wealth of information can be used to help personalise and enrich customer journeys. The industry is moving towards micro-segmentation, dynamic bundling, and contextual offers; balancing digital innovation with the human touch and ensuring transparency in data usage. However, speakers also identified the challenges in this area.
Data quality is a huge factor when it comes to successfully deploying a data-driven enrichment programme however, fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and the importance of clean data is a complex process to navigate. Equally, large data sets come with security requirements and if your programmes use AI to deploy them, ensuring this is done in an ethical, compliant way is essential.
Strategic partnerships between airlines and major technology providers such as Amadeus, Sabre and OpenJaw (to name a few) signal a new era for airline retailing. In a recent article, McKinsey estimated that airline retail will be a $45 billion business by 2030 as a result of “modern retailing” practices. This value extends beyond ticket sales, encompassing areas such as personalised offers, dynamic pricing, and enhanced digital experiences that help tailor products and services more closely to customer needs.
One key area of focus is ‘Offer and Order’ frameworks which provide a contemporary retail solution that revolutionises airline product sales and management. By leveraging existing data insights, this framework creates tailored offerings informed by customers' past buying patterns. It delivers a significantly more agile and adaptable retail experience designed to drive higher conversion rates. The system's effectiveness is further amplified when artificial intelligence is deployed to interpret data and construct customised packages for specific customers or targeted customer segments. Airlines are testing the approach on specific routes and markets first, moving from reactive, scripted solutions to agentic AI and exploring the full potential of click purchasing on tailored packages. This is definitely one to watch as it has the potential to completely transform how travellers shop.
Technology underpins all of this potential. Partnerships with technology companies will require commercial data access, open industry standards, shared risk models, and proper new distribution capability (NDC) implementation.
The most exciting part of the festival for Leighton was the consistent message that cloud technology is the backbone of modern aviation retailing, giving airlines the power to create personalised, dynamic offers at scale across all their sales channels at once.
Cloud platforms handle massive amounts of real-time data such as customer profiles, past purchases, available inventory, and current market conditions, to build tailored offers on the fly (pun intended).
This setup supports the API-first approach that's crucial for NDC and ‘Offer & Order’ management systems, making it easy to connect with travel sellers, aggregators, and direct booking channels while keeping product info and pricing consistent everywhere.
The beauty of the cloud is its flexibility, it scales up or down based on demand without airlines needing to invest heavily in their own servers. It also makes rolling out new features, updates, and AI-powered tools for dynamic pricing much faster and simpler. Ultimately, it lets airlines run their retail operations from anywhere and distribute their products globally without lag.
This is Leighton’s bread and butter - due to our long-standing partnership with British Airways (over 25 years) - we have been at the forefront of modern cloud architecture within aviation for well over a decade so it’s great to see the true potential of this type of approach being recognised.
Despite technological advances, fragmented processes and disconnected systems still challenge travellers. The goal isn't eliminating disruptions, it's creating resilient, trust-centric ecosystems that resolve issues proactively and keep travellers happy at every touchpoint.
Industry leaders emphasised that emotional connections through empathy and data-driven personalisation define the new competitive landscape within aviation.
The technology exists. The business case is proven. Success now requires disciplined prioritisation, cross-functional collaboration, and the courage to transform; one step, one route, one customer at a time.
Last week I was lucky enough to attend World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon (7th – 10th October). From speaking with colleagues face-to-face to attending some of the exceptional talks on offer it was evident to me that the industry is at a critical inflection point, with airlines worldwide racing to modernise operations, embrace AI, and reimagine customer experience to adapt to what continues to bean increasingly competitive market.
It was a fantastic event which offered great insight into the sector, with so many of the aviation industry together in one place. On the first evening of the conference, we hosted networking drinks at Sky Bar Oriente – offering excellent food and drinks and brilliant views of the city. We were joined by businesses operating across different parts of the aviation landscape, but who all shared the commonality that technology is the key driving force behind business growth. We want to thank you all again for joining us and making the event such a success. We’ll be bringing our drinks reception back next year so keep your eyes peeled for registration if you’re planning to attend the 2026 event!
There was so much to take away from the three days we spent at World Aviation Festival but in this blog, I’ve summed up some of the key themes that ran across the event and that will likely shape the industry as we move forward.
From AI-driven pricing systems managing thousands of route pairs to deployment across multiple transformation domains, artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential if organisations want to keep pace with consumer expectations. The key challenge in this area is scaling beyond proof-of-concepts (POCs). Leading airlines are now adopting top-down strategic approaches with clear 2030 transformation goals that will drive efficiency, improve customer experience, and support revenue growth – a lot of which will be powered by AI.
A clear example of this is multimodal AI implementations. Some carriers are using conversational AI to eliminate wait times for customers entirely and deliver real-time, empathetic support across voice and digital channels. The result for customers is quick, efficient customer service which allows them to resolve complex issues like rebooking without waiting for human intervention.
Perhaps the festival's most striking revelation was that technology isn't the biggest barrier to successful digital transformation, people are. Airlines with safety-first DNA often struggle with the risk appetite transformation requires meaning implementing changes in attitudes and new ways of doing things isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
Success depends on C-suite engagement, breaking down organisational silos, and bridging the gap between data analysts and business users. Throughout the event leading carriers emphasised the importance of iterative implementation, start small then scale, this will not only allow for problems to be spotted early but also support change management across your teams as they get used to the new normal.
Airlines possess vast amounts of customer data but often struggle to deploy it meaningfully. This wealth of information can be used to help personalise and enrich customer journeys. The industry is moving towards micro-segmentation, dynamic bundling, and contextual offers; balancing digital innovation with the human touch and ensuring transparency in data usage. However, speakers also identified the challenges in this area.
Data quality is a huge factor when it comes to successfully deploying a data-driven enrichment programme however, fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and the importance of clean data is a complex process to navigate. Equally, large data sets come with security requirements and if your programmes use AI to deploy them, ensuring this is done in an ethical, compliant way is essential.
Strategic partnerships between airlines and major technology providers such as Amadeus, Sabre and OpenJaw (to name a few) signal a new era for airline retailing. In a recent article, McKinsey estimated that airline retail will be a $45 billion business by 2030 as a result of “modern retailing” practices. This value extends beyond ticket sales, encompassing areas such as personalised offers, dynamic pricing, and enhanced digital experiences that help tailor products and services more closely to customer needs.
One key area of focus is ‘Offer and Order’ frameworks which provide a contemporary retail solution that revolutionises airline product sales and management. By leveraging existing data insights, this framework creates tailored offerings informed by customers' past buying patterns. It delivers a significantly more agile and adaptable retail experience designed to drive higher conversion rates. The system's effectiveness is further amplified when artificial intelligence is deployed to interpret data and construct customised packages for specific customers or targeted customer segments. Airlines are testing the approach on specific routes and markets first, moving from reactive, scripted solutions to agentic AI and exploring the full potential of click purchasing on tailored packages. This is definitely one to watch as it has the potential to completely transform how travellers shop.
Technology underpins all of this potential. Partnerships with technology companies will require commercial data access, open industry standards, shared risk models, and proper new distribution capability (NDC) implementation.
The most exciting part of the festival for Leighton was the consistent message that cloud technology is the backbone of modern aviation retailing, giving airlines the power to create personalised, dynamic offers at scale across all their sales channels at once.
Cloud platforms handle massive amounts of real-time data such as customer profiles, past purchases, available inventory, and current market conditions, to build tailored offers on the fly (pun intended).
This setup supports the API-first approach that's crucial for NDC and ‘Offer & Order’ management systems, making it easy to connect with travel sellers, aggregators, and direct booking channels while keeping product info and pricing consistent everywhere.
The beauty of the cloud is its flexibility, it scales up or down based on demand without airlines needing to invest heavily in their own servers. It also makes rolling out new features, updates, and AI-powered tools for dynamic pricing much faster and simpler. Ultimately, it lets airlines run their retail operations from anywhere and distribute their products globally without lag.
This is Leighton’s bread and butter - due to our long-standing partnership with British Airways (over 25 years) - we have been at the forefront of modern cloud architecture within aviation for well over a decade so it’s great to see the true potential of this type of approach being recognised.
Despite technological advances, fragmented processes and disconnected systems still challenge travellers. The goal isn't eliminating disruptions, it's creating resilient, trust-centric ecosystems that resolve issues proactively and keep travellers happy at every touchpoint.
Industry leaders emphasised that emotional connections through empathy and data-driven personalisation define the new competitive landscape within aviation.
The technology exists. The business case is proven. Success now requires disciplined prioritisation, cross-functional collaboration, and the courage to transform; one step, one route, one customer at a time.
Last week I was lucky enough to attend World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon (7th – 10th October). From speaking with colleagues face-to-face to attending some of the exceptional talks on offer it was evident to me that the industry is at a critical inflection point, with airlines worldwide racing to modernise operations, embrace AI, and reimagine customer experience to adapt to what continues to bean increasingly competitive market.
It was a fantastic event which offered great insight into the sector, with so many of the aviation industry together in one place. On the first evening of the conference, we hosted networking drinks at Sky Bar Oriente – offering excellent food and drinks and brilliant views of the city. We were joined by businesses operating across different parts of the aviation landscape, but who all shared the commonality that technology is the key driving force behind business growth. We want to thank you all again for joining us and making the event such a success. We’ll be bringing our drinks reception back next year so keep your eyes peeled for registration if you’re planning to attend the 2026 event!
There was so much to take away from the three days we spent at World Aviation Festival but in this blog, I’ve summed up some of the key themes that ran across the event and that will likely shape the industry as we move forward.
From AI-driven pricing systems managing thousands of route pairs to deployment across multiple transformation domains, artificial intelligence has moved from experimental to essential if organisations want to keep pace with consumer expectations. The key challenge in this area is scaling beyond proof-of-concepts (POCs). Leading airlines are now adopting top-down strategic approaches with clear 2030 transformation goals that will drive efficiency, improve customer experience, and support revenue growth – a lot of which will be powered by AI.
A clear example of this is multimodal AI implementations. Some carriers are using conversational AI to eliminate wait times for customers entirely and deliver real-time, empathetic support across voice and digital channels. The result for customers is quick, efficient customer service which allows them to resolve complex issues like rebooking without waiting for human intervention.
Perhaps the festival's most striking revelation was that technology isn't the biggest barrier to successful digital transformation, people are. Airlines with safety-first DNA often struggle with the risk appetite transformation requires meaning implementing changes in attitudes and new ways of doing things isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
Success depends on C-suite engagement, breaking down organisational silos, and bridging the gap between data analysts and business users. Throughout the event leading carriers emphasised the importance of iterative implementation, start small then scale, this will not only allow for problems to be spotted early but also support change management across your teams as they get used to the new normal.
Airlines possess vast amounts of customer data but often struggle to deploy it meaningfully. This wealth of information can be used to help personalise and enrich customer journeys. The industry is moving towards micro-segmentation, dynamic bundling, and contextual offers; balancing digital innovation with the human touch and ensuring transparency in data usage. However, speakers also identified the challenges in this area.
Data quality is a huge factor when it comes to successfully deploying a data-driven enrichment programme however, fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making and the importance of clean data is a complex process to navigate. Equally, large data sets come with security requirements and if your programmes use AI to deploy them, ensuring this is done in an ethical, compliant way is essential.
Strategic partnerships between airlines and major technology providers such as Amadeus, Sabre and OpenJaw (to name a few) signal a new era for airline retailing. In a recent article, McKinsey estimated that airline retail will be a $45 billion business by 2030 as a result of “modern retailing” practices. This value extends beyond ticket sales, encompassing areas such as personalised offers, dynamic pricing, and enhanced digital experiences that help tailor products and services more closely to customer needs.
One key area of focus is ‘Offer and Order’ frameworks which provide a contemporary retail solution that revolutionises airline product sales and management. By leveraging existing data insights, this framework creates tailored offerings informed by customers' past buying patterns. It delivers a significantly more agile and adaptable retail experience designed to drive higher conversion rates. The system's effectiveness is further amplified when artificial intelligence is deployed to interpret data and construct customised packages for specific customers or targeted customer segments. Airlines are testing the approach on specific routes and markets first, moving from reactive, scripted solutions to agentic AI and exploring the full potential of click purchasing on tailored packages. This is definitely one to watch as it has the potential to completely transform how travellers shop.
Technology underpins all of this potential. Partnerships with technology companies will require commercial data access, open industry standards, shared risk models, and proper new distribution capability (NDC) implementation.
The most exciting part of the festival for Leighton was the consistent message that cloud technology is the backbone of modern aviation retailing, giving airlines the power to create personalised, dynamic offers at scale across all their sales channels at once.
Cloud platforms handle massive amounts of real-time data such as customer profiles, past purchases, available inventory, and current market conditions, to build tailored offers on the fly (pun intended).
This setup supports the API-first approach that's crucial for NDC and ‘Offer & Order’ management systems, making it easy to connect with travel sellers, aggregators, and direct booking channels while keeping product info and pricing consistent everywhere.
The beauty of the cloud is its flexibility, it scales up or down based on demand without airlines needing to invest heavily in their own servers. It also makes rolling out new features, updates, and AI-powered tools for dynamic pricing much faster and simpler. Ultimately, it lets airlines run their retail operations from anywhere and distribute their products globally without lag.
This is Leighton’s bread and butter - due to our long-standing partnership with British Airways (over 25 years) - we have been at the forefront of modern cloud architecture within aviation for well over a decade so it’s great to see the true potential of this type of approach being recognised.
Despite technological advances, fragmented processes and disconnected systems still challenge travellers. The goal isn't eliminating disruptions, it's creating resilient, trust-centric ecosystems that resolve issues proactively and keep travellers happy at every touchpoint.
Industry leaders emphasised that emotional connections through empathy and data-driven personalisation define the new competitive landscape within aviation.
The technology exists. The business case is proven. Success now requires disciplined prioritisation, cross-functional collaboration, and the courage to transform; one step, one route, one customer at a time.
