How Air Canada is using AI to appease disrupted passengers
October 18, 2024
To manage and minimise the impact of disruptions for passengers, Air Canada has applied Amadeus Passenger Recovery technology to rebook passengers within 10 minutes. A process the previously could take up to 12 hours.
Like all airlines, Air Canada is subject to disruptions beyond its control, which can impact operations and ultimately passengers. Historically the airline managed flight cancellations manually with agents identifying passenger’s new recovery flights in person, which required a deep understanding of routes and schedules. The airline’s in-house tool was only able to propose recovery flights on Air Canada operated flights, which meant that rebooking with an alternative airline was a process that involved multiple steps and could only be done at the airport. The whole process to rebook and compensate passengers would take anywhere from 45 minutes to a staggering 12 hours per cancelled flight. Applying that process for multiple cancellations when there were issues disrupting services at one of Air Canada’s hubs and it’s easy to see how passenger and staff frustrations would quickly escalate.
Using AI to do the heavy lifting
Deploying Amadeus’ Passenger Recovery technology has been a game-changer, with the tool doing the “heavy lifting” according to the airline’s network passenger planning system operations control, Nairy Chamelian. “Managing flight cancellations is around 90% automated since we deployed Amadeus Passenger Recovery,” Nairy said. It’s not just the passengers that are benefitting either. The revenue management team are also happy because recovery options factor-in the various bilateral relationships Air Canada has with other carriers to limit the airline’s costs.
Automating the recovery process means the airline can now offer passengers a new flight option within 30 minutes and often within 10 minutes. It has also given the airline a complete end-to-end view of disruptions enabling it to run simulations on potential recovery plans quickly and efficiently and to understand issues such as how much the recovery will cost, the capabilities to deliver the recovery and connections that will be missed as a result of cancelled flights.
Turnkey solution
Citing a five-hour delay on a flight from Toronto to Narita in Tokyo as an example, Chamelian said, “that same aircraft can’t leave Narita the next day at 18.00 as originally planned and will need to depart at 23.00 instead.” This has a knock-on effect for passengers travelling on the return leg, who may then miss their onward connection. With Amadeus’ technology the airline has foresight of these missed connections in advance and “can use the tool to proactively rebook passengers onto alternative flights once they land in Toronto or move them to an alternative flight from Tokyo.”
