Aviation: Flight Disruption is 300% Above Historical Norms

The majority of aviation leaders expect flight disruption to remain elevated, according to a major new study commissioned by travel technology company Amadeus.

In Amadeus’ new study “Better together: Rethinking how to manage disruption in aviation”, senior airline and airport executives, surveyed in Q4 2023, explain the scale of the “flight disruption” challenge and how they plan to reduce the impact on passengers.

According to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), “flight disruption” is defined as “situations where a scheduled flight is cancelled, or delayed for two hours or more, within 48 hours of the original scheduled departure time”.

In the study, industry data provider Infare highlights that flight disruption, as indicated by schedule changes, remains 300 percent above historical norms as the aviation industry continues to grapple with a skills shortage and the rapid return of demand for air travel across every region of the world.

“In 2022 airlines struggled with supply and staffing issues, but during 2023, airlines and their partners are simply facing an unprecedented return of demand. Of course, that’s very welcome, but it brings its own operational challenges,” said Harry Grewal, Director of Infrastructure and Customer Experience, International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The majority of airline and airport executives surveyed (52 percent) said their organizations are currently experiencing more disruption than in 2019, compared to a third reporting less. Airlines and airports cite “brand damage” ahead of “increased costs” as top impact from persistent levels of disruption.

“With more industry leaders expecting disruption to remain elevated, taking action to mitigate the impact has become a top priority,” says Amadeus.

According to the study, 64% of airlines are investing in new technology to improve their response to disruption and 50 percent of airport leaders reported a “lack of common technology that brings stakeholders together” as their top challenge when responding to disruption.

A third (34 percent) of airport leaders pointed to “last minute provision of information from airlines” as a persistent challenge while 26 percent of airline leaders included the “lack of common technology platform with stakeholders at the airport” among the top barriers to better disruption management.

Moreover, all airports surveyed confirmed they are planning to invest in technology at their Operational Control Centers to better manage disruption. A quarter plan to do so in the next 12 months.

Essential: Collaboration between airlines, airports and ground handlers

Among the recommendations for improving the disruption response, the study highlights “the importance of collaboration” as the most significant.

Holger Mattig, SVP Product Management, Amadeus Airport & Airline Operations, refers to disruption is “a hugely complex problem” that requires airlines, airports, ground handlers and others to work together.

“Unfortunately, we still have too many information silos in aviation, which impacts the overall response and ultimately passengers. However, I do sense a real determination across the industry to put historic commercial tensions to one side and deliver a better, more joined-up and traveler-centric approach to disruption that’s empowered by shared technology,” Mattig said.

“At Amadeus, we are happy to contribute to this stronger ecosystem collaboration across people and technology, allowing for more efficient airport operations and a smoother end-to-end passenger experience”.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with leaders from organizations including Air France, SAS, Western Sydney International Airport and Queen Alia International Airport, the study spotlights several major new initiatives.

Aviation executives outline projects to improve how passengers are re-accommodated, how to better re-plan non-air aspects of the trip and how to deliver a more joined-up operational response between airlines, airports, and ground handlers.

The survey for Amadeus’ study was conducted by Opinium, an independent market research agency.