2024 was a record year for the aviation industry with total traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, growing 10.4 percent over 2023, and overall load factor reaching a high of 83.5 percent. Staring at considerable opportunity – think advanced air mobility and space exploration – and some challenges, such as high operating costs, ambitious sustainability targets, and on occasion, the Blue Screen of Death, the industry is leveraging the latest digital technologies to improve operations across the board. This piece looks at the role of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the transformation of aviation.

Supporting air and ground ops from the cloud
Every airline uses massive data spread across air and ground operations to run their business smoothly. Crew and ground staff need uninterrupted, 24/7 access to this information. Also, airline systems need to exchange data both among themselves – for example, passenger service systems must communicate with reservation, departure control and CRM, among others – and with external systems, such as those providing airport information, or maintenance services. Hosting and managing this data and enabling the necessary integrations between systems requires huge resources that only cloud can provide. Offering unparalleled scalability, cloud enables airlines to add (or remove) storage, compute and services on-demand, so they can respond to any situation with agility. By facilitating secure flow of information, it allows a host of global systems to interoperate seamlessly. Airline staff, such as pilots and flight dispatchers, can access cloud-based applications, such as flight planning systems, from anywhere, at any time using a mobile app or desktop computer. Since all major cloud service providers have robust security features and compliance protocols, airlines can rest easy about data protection and regulatory compliance. Cloud can also relieve the cost pressure on airline companies by lowering both capital investment in on-premise infrastructure and maintenance overheads. Enabling and empowering with insights
Artificial Intelligence technologies have an even wider impact on efficiency. Airlines are leveraging AI to automate a range of operations, from route optimization to technician reports to customer service, to save cost and time. Southwest Airlines employs AI technology for analyzing past data to identify potential issues, improve safety and make better in-flight decisions. By automating and optimizing flight schedules, Ryanair increased seat capacity by 38 percent. The airline also uses predictive analytics to analyze millions of data points to anticipate mechanical issues a few days before they occur. What’s more, AI-driven efficiency is helping airlines reduce emissions. For example, since the time American Airlines adopted smart gating technology, it has reduced taxiing time by 17 hours per day to save 1.4 million gallons of fuel in a year. Another AI solution helps to reduce aviation contrails and thereby, their warming effect on the environment.

Cancellations and delays due to “technical reasons” are a major cause of passenger frustration and operational losses. There are few industries where resilience matters more. AI and predictive analytics provide visibility into current and future operations to enable airline companies to respond to disruptions in real-time, take timely decisions to strengthen operations, and build resilience through long-term planning.

Powering aircraft through innovation
In addition to supporting current operations, cloud and AI are driving the future of aviation. Using these technologies, the industry is analyzing huge volumes of operational data to come up with revolutionary ideas to take aircraft design to the next level. One example of innovation is the creation of light composite materials, such as carbon fiber- reinforced polymers, which have drastically reduced both aircraft weight and fuel consumption in models such as the Airbus A350 XWB and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Another anticipated design innovation is a blended wing body combining the fuselage and wings, which reduces drag and improves lift-to-drag ratio. Talking to the skies
Generative AI holds significant promise for aviation, with use-cases already spanning crew scheduling to customer service. A large number of airlines are leveraging conversational AI to enhance the flying experience of both customers and crew. For example, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines uses a chatbot on Facebook to provide passengers with booking confirmations, status alerts and assistance in case of delays. Lufthansa’s chatbot helps travellers find their way around airports. The Airbus Pilot Assistant, as the name suggests, supports pilots with various real-time information and also assists in navigation.

Fly safely
Today’s aviation technology is as much about “digital” as “hardcore engineering”. Cloud and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of airlines’ technology transformation, impacting every corner of operations, from passenger services and ground handling to navigation and in-flight services. However, as aviation companies embrace these solutions to drive growth, efficiency and resilience they need to ensure one thing – that the use of the technologies and their data conforms to applicable regulatory mandates and ethical principles.

The author is Ashiss Kumar Dash, EVP & Global Head – Services, Utilities, Resources, Energy and Enterprise Sustainability, Infosys.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETCIO does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETCIO shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.

Published On Sep 10, 2025 at 06:54 AM IST

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