Air Travel to Revolutionize in the Post-COVID-19 World

The COVID-19 crisis caused numerous difficulties for commercial air travel, pushing airlines and airports to become creative, leverage existing technology and develop new solutions to keep the sector alive. In a post-pandemic world, innovations will continue to improve passenger experience while helping relieve airport capacity constraints.

Before the pandemic hit, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airports Council International (ACI) had already launched the New Experience Travel Technologies (NEXTT) initiative, their shared vision for the future of travel. Although short-term growth projections have dramatically changed, the emerging themes of NEXTT remain highly relevant to improve efficiency for airports and airlines, which both experienced devastating drops in revenue during the past two years, according to IATA.

Advancements to improve passenger experience target the entire customer journey, from off-airport processing activities to at-destination additional solutions, according to NEXTT. Efficiency, advanced processing and increasing touchless interactions between passengers, airlines and airports became crucial due to health restrictions and enabled the restart of the industry during the pandemic crises.

The IATA and ACI initiative aims to give passengers a fully digitalized and personalized experience when traveling. “Advanced bookings and arrangements can be made to include off-airport travel authorizations, seat and service selections, baggage drop-off, purchases and health validation,” reads the document.

In-flight passenger experience will also be driven by connectivity. Passengers will be able to track their baggage status and make arrangements for their connecting airport, while having a customized entertainment and food experience, said IATA.

Interiors also play an important role within customer experience. The top 40 Tier 1 global airlines are committed to passenger experience and when they buy new aircraft, they take it as an opportunity to update their brand, said to MBN Anthony Harcup, Senior Director of Airline Experience, Teague. “That often means refreshing their interiors with new dress covers or a new look and feel for business class seats,” he added.

Mexico Aerospace Forum 2022

Mexico Aerospace Forum 2022, hosted by Mexico Business on April 27-29, 2022, will feature industry leaders who will discuss the latest trends impacting the aviation and aerospace sectors.

Join the conversation with Anthony Harcup from Teague, Filipe Pereira from IATA, Lise Vives from Kayak México, Livier Bustos from Delta Airlines and Guilhem Mallet from Air France KLM Group in the panel “Passenger Experience in the Post-COVID-19 Era.”

Do not miss the opportunity to get the insights of the Mexican aerospace industry directly from the leaders who are transforming the sector. Tickets for the forum are available here. Join the future of B2B conferences now!