Usually not because of the model. The data AI needs is spread across decades of systems that were never designed to talk to each other. A pilot can work around that. Scaling the return can’t.
Fuel is eating the budget.
Tech investments need to show impact.
Fuel is set to add $100 billion to airlines' bills this year, and IATA expects profits to halve. Airlines are still investing in AI, but every technology dollar now has to prove its return. AI that never made it past the pilot is a cost the P&L can't carry.
David Lavorel, CEO of SITA says:
"Aviation is deploying AI with real ambition. But the survey is clear: the primary barrier to maximizing that investment is the lack of data integration across the operation. The technology is there. The data infrastructure to connect it often is not."
| $22B | less profit for airlines this year. |
| $100B | added to the industry’s fuel bill. |
| $36B | spent on airline IT in 2025. SITA says data gaps stop it from fully paying off. |
The revenue is in your data. Your systems won’t let it out.
Every flight, booking, repair and crew rotation produces data. Connected, it gives you a real-time view of operations so AI can help you grow revenue, cut costs and catch a disruption before it spreads. Scattered across decades of systems, it keeps AI stuck in the pilot and the payoff stuck on paper.
49% of airlines name data integration as the primary barrier to a shared, real-time operational picture.
The two obvious options.
Neither gets AI off the ground.
Bolt AI onto what you already have
Quick to announce, slow to pay back. It's a jet engine on a baggage cart: the pilot works, but the returns don’t scale, because the systems underneath were never built for it.
Wait for the big multi-year rebuild
Years of cost before any return. With fuel eating the margin, P&L can’t wait that long.
There’s a third option:
fix what's underneath, one phase at a time and prove the return before the next phase begins.
This isn’t advice. It’s already flying.
Here’s what happens to the P&L when airlines fix the data foundations first.
Fix what’s underneath. Then let AI fly
We don’t add AI on top of your problems. We fix the data foundations, so AI shows up in revenue and margin, in phases that pay back as they go.
Modernize the core without putting revenue at risk
Replace the legacy systems that slow your operation down, while the airline keeps flying.
Connect the data AI depends on
Turn scattered data into a governed, real-time foundation, so the returns from AI scale past the pilot.
Turn platforms into profit
Take cost out of the operation and build digital platforms that earn their keep.
Is your AI landing on solid ground?
Bring us the AI pilot that stalled. We'll talk through what's holding it back.
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*Source: IATA: State of the industry, 82nd AGM and SITA Research