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At JetBlue Ventures, I’ve witnessed firsthand how AI is transforming the travel and aviation industry. Last July, I wrote a piece on generative AI, ChatGPT, and Travel Technologies and the potential of these technologies to change our industry. In just one year, the adoption of AI across our portfolio companies has doubled — from 17.4% in 2023 to 34% by the end of 2024. This growth shows how integral AI has become in addressing complex challenges in the travel sector.
The Evolution of AI in Travel
Initially, one of the primary applications of AI in travel revolved around trip personalization chatbots. We witnessed hundreds of variations, ranging from seed-stage startups to major travel agencies like Expedia, competing to deliver AI-driven trip planners.
Since then, the role of AI in travel has grown exponentially. According to MoneyLion’s 2024 Travel & AI Trends Report (conducted by The Harris Poll), 70% of Americans are already using, planning to use, or are open to using AI to plan their trips. This surge reflects a broader shift in consumer behavior, as travelers increasingly rely on AI-powered tools to make their experiences more seamless, efficient, and personalized. However, these efforts only scratched the surface of the potential that AI holds for the travel industry.
The behind-the-scenes operations of the aviation and travel industries highlight how AI is driving transformative change — and our portfolio companies are leading the way. Let’s take a closer look at a few leveraging AI to revolutionize the industry.
Fraud Detection using GANs: UrbanFox
According to Fraugster’s New Payment Intelligence Report, airlines lost over €6.5B to fraud in 2021, accounting for 1.5% of global airline revenue, often due to fraudsters targeting frequent flyer programs.
UrbanFox is a portfolio company specializing in combating this with advanced fraud detection solutions, focusing on synthetic fraud with a use case in aviation. UrbanFox leverages Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) instead of traditional models, enabling the simulation of fraud-related behaviors. This approach allows the system to detect and adapt to new threats dynamically, eliminating reliance on traditional rule-based systems.
Geospatial Analytics: Wherobots
Efficient airline operations rely on a deep understanding of both the global landscape and hyper-local landscape.
Wherobots is a geospatial intelligence cloud platform designed for high-performance geospatial extract-transform-load (ETL), analytics, and computer vision on a global scale for corporations. Built on data lakehouse architecture, the platform accelerates spatial data processing up to 20 times faster than traditional cloud-based analytics engines. Whereobots has become a cornerstone for organizations such as Amazon, which leverage the tool to optimize last-mile delivery.
Precise Weather Prediction: Tomorrow.io
Government agencies have traditionally been the benchmark for weather prediction accuracy, largely because of their access to satellite data. However, these satellites were often built for general purposes, with weather forecasting being a secondary focus. Tomorrow.io has taken an innovative approach by combining proprietary satellite data with advanced computational techniques, including the attenuation of microwaves transmitted between cell towers to offer hyperlocal weather forecasting.
Over the past few years, they have integrated AI-enhanced forecast modeling, which leverages neural networks and deep learning to identify subtle patterns within vast training datasets. This advanced approach enables their models to deliver highly localized and accurate weather predictions, surpassing traditional forecasting methods.
Next-Gen Customer Service: NLX
Long customer service queues and lengthy wait times are major pain points for travelers worldwide.
NLX addresses this challenge by combining the best of artificial intelligence and the human support experience in its conversational, self-service technology. Through automated chat and voice solutions, NLX enables travelers to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, delivering a faster, more cost-effective, and seamless customer experience.
Airplane Turn Management using Computer Vision: Assaia
Operational delays at airports cost airlines billions annually, with airplane turnaround inefficiencies contributing significantly.
Assaia is a portfolio company leveraging advanced computer vision and AI technologies to transform aircraft turnaround operations. Traditionally, these operations — such as baggage handling, catering, water, and fuel refills — are managed manually, making them prone to inefficiencies and delays. Assaia leverages an airport’s existing security camera infrastructure to track and monitor activities in real time, identifying inefficiencies and safety concerns while predicting potential delays. This data-driven approach helps airlines and airports enhance operational efficiency, reduce turnaround times, and improve on-time performance.
Dynamic Seat Reallocation: Volantio
Overbooking is a common practice in the aviation industry to maximize revenue, but it can lead to customer frustration when they travel.
Volantio is a global leader in post-booking revenue and capacity optimization, providing airlines with intelligent solutions to manage flights more effectively. Using machine learning algorithms, Volantio identifies flexible passengers on high-demand flights, offers them incentives to switch to lower-demand flights, and seamlessly rebooks them once they accept. This approach creates a win-win scenario, optimizing seat allocation, boosting airline revenue, and enhancing the overall passenger experience.
Predictive Delay Insights: Lumo
Flight disruptions cost airlines and passengers billions of dollars every year in inefficiencies, unanticipated travel expenses, and lost productivity.
Lumo leverages machine learning to provide detailed insights on potential flight delays. For travelers, this means avoiding surprises and making more informed travel decisions. For airlines, this means improving operational efficiency and increasing customer satisfaction. Lumo’s data-driven tools allow both airlines and passengers to mitigate disruptions with actionable insights.
Looking Ahead
These are just a few behind-the-scenes examples shaping your travel experience, with many more already in our portfolio and more to come. The real question is: How else can we push the boundaries of innovation in travel? The possibilities are endless, and I’m excited to be part of the journey to discover what’s next.
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