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What Airlines Tell Us Behind the Scenes

altovo (formerly easyGDS) reports that airline leaders express different priorities in private versus public settings. While industry panels emphasise growth and innovation, behind-the-scenes conversations consistently centre on three operational friction points.

The Core Challenge

Airline leaders speak very differently in private conversations than they do on stage. The fundamental issue stems from a disconnect: commercial teams identify revenue opportunities rapidly, but the systems supporting them cannot match that velocity.

Three Primary Obstacles

1. Extended Product Launch Cycles

Commercial teams can conceptualise new holiday products or ancillary offerings within days, yet deployment requires months. Multiple integration requirements, testing delays, and cascading dependencies extend timelines far beyond initial expectations.

2. Inflexible Legacy Infrastructure

Current systems lack the agility modern commercial operations demand. Teams seeking to adjust pricing bundles, test new approaches, or activate B2B2C channels encounter lengthy technical requirements for even minor modifications.

3. Fragmented Supplier Ecosystems

Airlines typically engage numerous vendors across distribution, ancillaries, retailing, and payments, each maintaining distinct release schedules, API frameworks, and integration protocols. Coordinating simultaneous system changes transforms straightforward initiatives into extended projects.

The Pattern and Solution

Airlines possess strategic clarity and innovative capacity. Their constraint involves execution speed, because their systems and supplier structures were not built for today's commercial reality.

Moving forward, airlines are seeking technology partners offering rapid deployment, seamless integration, and reduced supplier complexity alongside flexible, modular capabilities that enable faster product launches without extensive engineering cycles.