Airlines Struggle to Take Advantage of Big Data

The aviation industry is sitting on a bundle. The wealth of information available to airlines, and the potential revenue airlines can gain from Big Data is beyond measure. Airlines have an opportunity to use passenger information to revolutionize the passenger experience—if they could only figure out how. With millions of passengers traveling every day, millions making bookings, and more potential travelers scouring travel sites and airline sites for the best deals, a googol data points are gathered daily; where they are trapped in data Silos to age and perish—the gold they represent squandered. Though in measured words, characteristic of their big-picture, reserved, IT-friendly personas, this is what Boxever’s VP of Sales, Ultan O’Brian, and VP of Marketing, Allyson Pelletier, impressed upon us when we spoke to them about Big Data and aviation. The reason for this waste is two-fold. Big Data at airlines is very big. IT departments at airlines, however, are not. Put