The
airline industry is at a pivotal point in its evolution with the convergence of
pricing, inventory, retailing and mobile, driven by consumer demand and enabled
by emerging technology systems.
There
is still much work to be done, but panelists at ATPCO’s Elevate conference
agree the process of searching and shopping for flights will change rapidly in
the next few years.
During
a panel discussion Tuesday at the event, a group of execs took questions from ATPCO executive vice president of retailing Robert Albert and the audience of 420 airline professionals, travel distributors, technology suppliers and startups.
The line-up:
- Expedia Group’s senior director of connectivity,
Heidi Narayan
- Google’s managing director of global business development, Gianni
Marostica
- Amadeus’ executive
vice president of customer solutions for travel channels, Rudy Daniello
- Skyscanner’s vice president of product, Piero Sierra.
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Now 18
months past ATPCO’s acquisition of Routehappy, which Albert founded in 2011, he
says “a key part” of what the combined companies now do is developing “very
concrete content, tools, services, standards and distribution” across its
retailing portfolio.
Albert shares
details of ATPCO’s expansion of its Next Generation Storefront (NGS) standards
and how its “vast repository of rich content” is powering innovation in flight
shopping.
In the
subsequent panel discussion, participants discuss the impact of younger
generations on flight shopping, their plans for NGS implementation (Google says
it is testing it with three airlines and Skyscanner expects to begin trials
with five airlines by the end of the year) and their outlook for the coming
year.
The
full presentation is available below.
Beautiful rebellion: How to stand out in travel retail
*This reporter's attendance at the event was supported by ATPCO.