Traveller behaviour is currently the biggest form of disruption in the corporate travel industry, the CAPA conference in Dublin has heard.
Amadeus VP of distribution marketing, Decius Valmorbida, believes suppliers such as technology providers must adapt to the speed in which consumers can move from one market space to another.
He was speaking on a panel discussing disruption in the airline industry. The speakers discussed the pace in which aviation has reacted to change and how legacy carriers will "fight to preserve the status quo".
"Traveller behaviour is the largest element of disruption facing the airline industry," said Valmorbida. "It is often associated with risk with people saying change will come and won't be beneficial, however I feel the opposite and see tremendous opportunity in what is happening.
"If we have travellers more willing to share, or users that want products tailored to them or that value an experience more than a product, this is great news for everyone in the industry.
"Tech providers will be able to provide more sophisticated technology, systems that will react and adapt to what people want and I think we are going to solve one of the biggest issues we have in the industry, which is airlines making more money per passenger I think that's we all want to see. That is the key that unlocks growth for the industry," said Valmorbida.
Valmorbida was joined on the panel by Travelport senior VP and MD of air commerce, Derek Sharp, who spoke about the success of the company's Rich Content and Branding which now has 150 airlines signed up.
Sharp also spoke about mobile and the way that is transforming the airline industry. "Travellers and buyer behaviour is increasingly being driven by the mobile environment, especially with last minute bookings on a trip."
Director of business development at Skyscanner, Hugh Aitken, said they were having to respond to a "huge change" in booking behaviour towards mobile.
Aitken said: "On the website we have around 60 million visitors a month and 50 per cent of those are now on mobile. People still haven't fully adopted to booking the trip the whole way through on a phone but that will change."
Richard Castle, regional director, Sabre discussed the airline industry's failure to "really know" who their traveller is and the lack of personalisation.
"The level of personalisation in aviation is still in its infancy," said Castle. "As an example when you book a flight you often get an option to upgrade, but that is the same offer every other passenger will get so doesn't take into account things such as tier status."