Categories / Topics
Comment

How airlines can avoid ​costly ​IT​-based delays in 2025 ​

Author :
Jon Bance

As previously seen with the CrowdStrike outage last year, the global aviation industry lives and dies by its IT systems. Without a consistent, resilient IT solution, any disruption to network systems can lead to widespread delays and operational challenges on a global scale. Any problem also has a ripple effect on other airspaces, meaning that one minor issue quickly snowballs into a major problem.  

With many executives predicting another major IT outage on that scale within the next 12 months, shoring up systems for resiliency is key. This means investing in and updating your technology stack away from legacy systems and unifying fragmented infrastructure and processes you might not realise aren’t fit for purpose for today’s travel needs.  

IT as the Strategic enabler

This ties into a major theme emerging in CIO circles. At Gartner’s recent Symposium in Barcelona, it was clear that IT must pivot from being “the doers” to becoming strategic enablers. IT teams should focus on providing platforms, data, and tools for business departments to lead innovation and create new go-to-market products. For instance, Marketing and Sales can harness increasingly granular data to better target customers, while Customer Services should adopt AI tools to elevate service quality—a much-needed improvement for many industries. 

Similarly, inward-facing teams can harness IT to innovate, automate, and streamline operations. The shift is about empowering every department to lead in their domain while IT guides as a trusted advisor and architectural enabler. 

The proliferation of AI-branded products demands scrutiny. Some are simply repackaged machine learning or process automation tools, but others are genuinely groundbreaking. A key area of transformation is the role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO). For years, the focus was on building perfect data warehouses or lakes with fully structured data. Today, AI tools can integrate structured and unstructured data to deliver meaningful insights. This breakthrough saves businesses time and money, fundamentally altering how data is utilised. 

“​It is pivotal that airlines ​migrate and update their IT and network systems to avoid future disruptions. Despite the age of current infrastructure and the modern necessity for mature standards and processes, the airline industry continues to neglect upgrading IT systems. Expert guidance in pinpointing weaknesses and overseeing the migration to a modern technology stack is key for airlines and airport operators looking to avoid problems in 2025.
Jon Bance
Chief Operating Officer

Identifying performance and improvements through updating basic elements such as network stacks, core systems responsiveness and Cyber systems,  whilst incorporating risk concerns and lowering costs are all factors that IT operators must consider. Managing all of these at once can quickly become overwhelming if they lack a clear strategy for migrating systems at this scale. 

It is no longer as simple as blindly applying software updates; airline IT operators must think ahead at any unintentional consequences software updates may have on daily operations. Assessing your existing systems with an initial audit helps create a benchmark for understanding how far your systems need to go, but IT operators need a proper plan that takes granular details into account.

Airlines cannot afford downtime; their operations are 24/7 and they must balance necessary upgrades whilst maintaining current operations.  

With limited change windows available, implementing new hardware and software requires decisive, strategic action. Collaboration between internal teams and external IT partners needs to be efficiently rolled out, whilst maintaining project governance and able to be repeatable and scalable in installation across multiple systems and departments.  

Turning to a technology consultancy that knows the risks and pitfalls involved can be the difference between a smooth IT operation and one that leads to chaos at the gates.   Additionally as seen over the holiday season, sudden delays and cancellations can bring chaos to even the best-made plans, so ensuring your IT systems are not contributing to the problem but instead facilitating the solution is key for smoother flights in 2025, a reason why forward-thinking IT leaders are investing in observability technologies. 

It’s no longer enough to just wait for something to break. Watermelon dashboarding – where everything looks green on the surface but is red just underneath – is no longer enough, as now your systems need to go one step further in ensuring nothing is overlooked. In investing and upgrading systems for greater observability, you gain a tool in separating real critical information from the rest of the noise to not only leave no stone unturned but also stay ongoing and proactive for IT problems.

Delivering ‘evergreen’ infrastructure reduces business risk and provides greater resiliency across your IT systems and allows for greater control, visibility and increased service delivery to hundreds of airports. Businesses also save potentially millions in the long-term due to reduced costs, savings on contracts and improved efficiency. 

Ultimately, ensuring stability and ongoing performance with no impact on flights is key. Your customers deserve the best experience possible to keep them travelling year-on-year, so an investment in the technology systems that enable them to effectively get to their destination is key for ongoing business and capitalising on the busiest times of the year.

Transformational change with solutions that are as adaptable as your business needs.
Contact Us