IT REPORT
to 44% from 25% in 2018. Around 77% of
airports will have interactive navigation
investment plans by 2022, although
this gure is the same as the previous
year. Arti cial intelligence investment
is another important area of focus, with
the deployment of major programmes
reaching 29% (up from 9% in 2018).
Finally, there has been further
investment in Arti cial Intelligence
initiatives over the past year, with the
main objective of improving the passenger
experience.
The future scenario
According to respondents, in terms of
airline IT expenditure in 2020, 49% of
airlines predicted that their operating
spend would increase, with 28% declaring
that it would stay the same. Slightly
worrying, perhaps, was the 23% who
forecast a decrease in their IT investment.
is seems a little hard to swallow, given
that existing systems and applications will,
at the very least, require maintenance and
possible upgrades.
By 2022, the focus appears to be on
digital transformation, with cloud services
prominent (100% of respondents citing
this area) and cybersecurity initiatives also
strong, at 96%: these were deemed the
most likely areas for future investment.
Investment in cloud services has
increased since 2016 and is clearly a top
priority on the agenda across most airlines:
today, some 83% of airlines have major
programmes in place for cloud activity
whilst a further 16% are running a pilot
scheme of some description.
Likewise, cybersecurity is a high priority,
ranking second on the airline CIO agenda,
with 86% having a major cybersecurity
programme in place and a further 10%
running a pilot.
As mentioned earlier, IT and telecoms
have become indispensable to today’s
aviation sector; with rising passenger
numbers and aircra order books full, its
bene ts are not di cult to grasp. ghi
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