The aviation sector is at an exciting crossroads. With increased technological capabilities, the prominence of social media platforms, the explosion of mobile usage and a customer-centric society, we are going to experience a period of inevitable change and growth.
Looking at the overall travel experience, it is exciting to look forward to the developments we might see for travellers by 2025.
Personalisation
Travellers today are no longer passive receivers of information. They are informed, empowered and are accustomed to having full control over their service experiences. In the next 10 years, this will only increase, as the travel industry begins to truly utilise the big data available, which tells us so much about individual travellers. Using big data insights, airlines will be able to strengthen their relationships with customers to deliver personalised travel experiences throughout the customer journey.
What's more, travellers will be seeking their own travel experiences, curated by them. Becoming increasingly relevant is the impact of customer reviews on future travel plans (through sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp), and this will become essential. Benefitting from user-generated content, travellers will personalise their travel plans to create their ultimate experience. Supported by intuitive technology, the realm of competitive differentiation appears limitless.
Connectivity
In today's society, our world exists in the smartphone housed in the palm of our hand. This is showing no signs of slowing, and if anything, the power of this constant connectivity is still yet to be realised by many travel providers. In the next 10 years we will see greater connectivity capabilities for travellers and their companies.
Both airlines and air passengers will take different directions in the next decade. ©iStock/alice-photo
Duty of care responsibilities will be managed effectively, as employers will be able to reach out to and assist their staff at any and all times. And with the technology right in their hands, travellers will have full accountability of their mobility. Supported by the apps and web functionality that will no doubt continue to surprise and delight us all, this connected world will make travel an even more exciting industry.
Sustainability
Sustainability is an important issue in aviation, and this will only continue. As we move into the future, airlines will continue to realise the benefits (both ethically and commercially) of making a positive stand toward sustainability. With growing concerns over the environmental impact of tourism and greenhouse gas emissions, airlines are required to critically consider their ecological footprint.
By making a positive impact on the environment and exercising corporate social responsibility, we'll begin to see airlines showcasing cleaner, more fuel-efficient aircrafts. This is not only the right thing to do given the current climate, but also what customers expect and demand from their suppliers.
Technology
Technologies like telepresence have been available for a number of years now, and while they certainly enable robust conversations, we are yet to see them have a major impact on travel. Therefore, it's unlikely to see any changes to technology that would prevent us from requiring those important, value-adding face-to-face interactions that only travel can provide.
However, the technology we are seeing emerging will enable even greater travel experiences. From searching for flights and booking itineraries, through to in-flight productivity and connectivity from the start to the end of a trip, we are going to see enormous developments in technological infrastructure. With the usage of mobile technologies and apps increasing, we will see more seamless end-to-end experiences for travellers.
Carrier convergence
Since the global financial crisis, we have seen a significant convergence of business models between traditional and low-cost carriers. Faced with such a competitive market, traditional carriers have been stripping back features (or making them optional opt-ins) to streamline their costs. We will likely see this continuing, and may even see more legacy carriers opening up low-cost arms.
Travellers have a choice (on most routes) and as air space becomes more congested, they will benefit further from a growing number of options. The strongest airlines will survive as travellers keep carriers on their toes and demand value for money across all types (and class) of airline travel. Carriers will need to constantly look to the future and be intelligently innovative to stay ahead of customer expectations.
Setbacks, growth and expansions
Travellers in Europe will have experienced the capacity issues we face at many European airports. With new runways and infrastructure taking many years to complete, it's not something that will have improved drastically by 2025. As more and more travellers fly further due to our increasingly interconnected world, we may see a continued shift in airport hubs to the Middle East. Centrally located as a connector between key business destinations and with state-of-the-art airports, travellers are beginning to use these Middle East hubs for travel between Europe and Asia Pacific.