March, 20208 THE AIR TRAVEL EXPERIENCEDR ERIC TYREE, CHIEF DATA SCIENTIST, CWTWhether it's inflight internet access or the ability to check in from your mobile phone, technology is changing the shape of travel - and aviation is at the center of much of the innovation.A recent study by SITA, the leading airline IT provider, found that passengers are demanding technological innovation as they strive for "self-service to manage their own journey" and, at the same time, looking for a seamless experience across airlines, airports, border agencies and other stakeholders involved in their trips.The rising expectations of "post-digital passengers" coincide with the rapid roll-out of various technologies across the travel ecosystem, one of which is Artificial Intelligence (AI).In the travel and aviation context, most of AI has been very observational in that it looks at patterns and either tries to see those patterns in data it hasn't seen before or tries to extrapolate from what it has seen in data in the past. However, this is changing rapidly with the growing sophistication of AI applications in travel, where ensembles of technologies are being used to create human-like automation of tasks. A wide range of AI techniques and technologies are being leveraged to enhance or automate traditionally human-executed tasks, to the point that we are unaware whether it is a human or computer conducting it. Travel AI is starting to pass the Turing test.Coupled with the growing power, increasing speed and decreasing cost of computing, the amount of data available is also growing exponentially, leading to the wider application of AI to create a better experience for travelers.Robotic process automation and machine learning are being used to streamline the booking process. For instance, where a traveler visits a few locations regularly and generally flies the same route, the same airline and the same day and time, it's possible to automate the process fairly easily. A simple "fly to London" request on the booking tool can be automatically turned into a booking with a few key strokes.AI-enabled messaging ­ commonly known as chatbots ­ which have played a crucial role in helping other industries IN MY V EW
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