We’re beyond proud of our team for their standout presence at this year’s World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam! 🎉
Our Managing Director Xavier Lagardere had a busy and exciting schedule, participating in several discussions about the future of aviation, from how generative AI will reshape the sector and the strategies needed for harnessing its potential to the next big investment opportunities.
Dr. Ivan Terekhov, Director Research & Intelligence, followed up with a packed agenda. Together with other industry leaders, he explored how to separate hype from reality when it comes to innovation. Later, Dr. Ivan Terekhov delivered a (p)review of innovation in aviation, from which we took away these three learnings:
💡 The status quo in aviation needs improvement: Delays and lost luggage are just two factors contributing to customer dissatisfaction, highlighting the ongoing need for better solutions. The sustainability pressure that airlines are facing puts them under additional strain.
💡 Innovation is more important than ever: While airline patent activity has decreased and is focused mainly on operational issues, there’s reason for optimism. The aviation innovation ecosystem is alive, expanding, and highly diverse.
💡 Airline investments in innovation remain limited: Only a small number of airlines are actively investing in startups, and when they do, most focus on core operations like manufacturing, ground operations, and MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) to improve efficiency.
Of course, our ventures also made a strong showing at the festival:
💬 Swifty enables companies to seamlessly integrate AI-based booking into their web, email, messenger, or app interfaces, allowing their customers to execute their travel bookings in no time. Stanislav Bondarenko Diane Ugiagbe
💫 Cosmos, our advanced provider management platform, centralizes data, fosters transparency, and drives efficiency, streamlining operations and turning service providers into partners. Fabrice Diedrich
A big thank you to our fellow panelists and everyone else who made this event special! 💚
Charlene-Elise “Charlie” A. (IATA), Mitrankur Majumdar (Infosys), Sanjay Nair (United Airlines), Rupert Stuetzle (Microsoft), Richard Masters (Virgin Atlantic), Oisin Lunny is at WAF ✈️ (Galaxy of OM, S.L.), Bjørn Klimek (Widerøe Zero AS), Lukas Kaestner (Sustainable Aero Lab), Lisa Eyamie (WestJet), Jacqueline Davidson (Aerospace Xelerated/Boeing), Suzanna Chiu (Amadeus Ventures), Amy Daniels Burr (JetBlue Ventures), and Vicki Nakata (Alaska Airlines / UP.Labs), Ole Bentzin & Stefan Nothelfer (Lufthansa Innovation Hub)!
We’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of aviation tech and sustainability! Did you attend the World Aviation Festival? Share your highlights with us below!👇
#WorldAviationFestival #AviationFest #Innovation #Aviation
