What Airlines Really Want When They Turn to Silicon Valley

Plug-and-Play, a Silicon Valley accelerator responsible for nurturing innovation in a wide range of industries, is building strong partnerships in the travel sector, especially with airlines. It’s all about the benefits of outsourcing. As once unprofitable operations that kept everything in house, airlines have improved their bottom lines by entrusting outside providers with maintenance, manufacturing of certain aircraft components, catering, aircraft cleaning, ground service, and dozens of other steps involved in making daily flights run smoothly. That habit of outsourcing is the secret sauce giving airlines an appetite for the California startup rush. What’s outsourced to Silicon Valley today is billed as future-proofing or disruption, but in principle it is the same as outsourced recruiting or outsourced inventory management. That’s what startup connector Plug-and-Play has banked on. Travel companies like Emirates, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Panasonic Avi