Delta's Fabulous Data

New data generating systems in the cabin will revolutionise flying for both passengers & crew

Long-term readers of Airline Revenue Economics have seen the whole gamut of emerging technology covered. We have covered blockchain ticketing (see article), loyalty as fintech (see article) and artificial intelligence (see article).

These pieces are not idle speculation. Argentina’s Fly Bondi genuinely does issue NFT tickets. Avios Group Limited really did generate profits of £73 million by selling miles and points in 2021. Airline revenue management with it’s large training set of historical revenue accounting data could be argued to be the original AI.

Our 2021 analysis of the potential for Internet of Things technology to help airlines deliver services and help crew manage the cabin (see article) seems to be coming true too.

Collins Aerospace’s new Intelisence and Delta Flight Products’ Sky Pulse (pictured) are turning my ideas into reality.

Here is what I said a few years ago:

Imagine you are watching an exciting James Bond movie on the plane. Villains shoot as the hero descends into a fiery volcano. Meanwhile an evil mastermind restrains the beautiful girl, who calls out to Bond to rescue her.

Then you are tapped on the shoulder and asked “would you like to buy a drink?” Of course not – you want to watch your movie. Meanwhile the airline has lost a chance to earn revenue. But now imagine you are offered a drink just as the credits were rolling. The timing is perfect and the movie was great - of course you will buy, and the airline earns it’s money.

The system in the picture above shows data streaming in from a real Delta flight in progress while I was standing in front of the screen. The photo was taken at 1135 UTC and note the time of arrival – 1156 UTC, just 21 minutes later. By this stage most services have been completed.

The Seattle to Orlando flight was quite long – 2,554 miles by the great circle distance – and at 4:35 elapsed time, long enough for passengers to watch James Bond and have a drink afterwards. It would have taken off at 0700 UTC, 11pm in Seattle, so many passengers will be groggy and tired.

Notice how many passenger seats are highlighted in green – 63 of them in total are watching the moving map. Three passengers in the plush seats at the front have linked their Bluetooth headsets with the plane’s entertainment system. 23 other passengers are watching video. Only three people are listening to audio and none are playing games.

Imagine how different this must be from other flights or even different stages of the same flight. Earlier on, some tired and restless souls probably played a few games to while away the hours.

Live TV would not be so popular as there is not much on late at night, but during the Superbowl would be in heavy use. On a European airline many people would no doubt tune in to watch the football. Indian carriers would see high demand for this service during the cricket.

All this data will be stored by Delta and compared across different flights and seasons.

Airlines can use this data to understand how people behave at different stages of the journey. This will be incredibly important when designing seats, galleys, catering and entertainment systems with all their content.

Airlines looking to understand how to value an IFE system (see article) would love this data. As would airlines using my LOOP (LOPA optimisation) methods to design the seats and galleys (see article).

Over in the galley data collection is in progress too (pictured below).

Notice how the oven, bun warmer and beverage makers are ‘all OK’. Since the plane will be landing soon most services are over. Two trolley are in use, probably doing tidy-up or waste collection.

In future the trolleys and other equipment items may be fitted with sensors to judge how heavy they are at different stages of the flight compared with the time of loading.

Together with a galley loading plan, this will help airlines understand how and when services are delivered in-flight. It will also help airlines learn how much catering is wasted. If airlines use this data to tailor the galley loading there could be significant savings across procurement of catering items, meal preparation and fuel burn.

A few years ago I said…

Pressure sensing galleys [and seats] are more expensive than traditional interiors and airlines will need a strong revenue case to adopt these technologies. Fortunately there are three opportunities to monetise such features:

(i) More effective service leads to happier customers who book the airline again and recommend it to their friends – the result is higher demand, which the airline can monetise through closing lower fare classes in revenue management, pricing power in some segments and selling some seats that would otherwise go unsold

(ii) Real time communications between seats and galleys allow crew to proactively offer ancillary revenue services when passengers are ready, avoiding the James Bond problem I explained earlier in this article and increasing propensity to buy

(iii) The data collected by intelligent seats, galleys and lighting can be sold back to the supply chain and even to competitor airlines.

Airlines who can get creative with their existing data will be the first to adopt, and there will be no advantage for the largest carriers because all airlines have the necessary information in their revenue accounts. Agility and a willingness to think differently will be the keys to success.

Around nine months later I had the chance to quiz Delta CEO Ed Bastian and his friend Shai Weiss from Virgin Atlantic on this data. You can read the full article here.

Here is my question:

You mention the importance of services, which is something Airbus has been talking about a lot. It is well-known that Airbus’s ‘Skywise’ platform is generating data that airlines are using to improve maintenance and aircraft performance.

But Airbus are now talking about using Skywise data to understand how passengers experience products like seats, service and entertainment in the cabin, like we see with the Airspace Cabin Vision 2030 which recently won a Crystal Cabin Award.

Do you believe in this model and what services do you think we will see Delta and Virgin Atlantic introduce in the cabin as a result?

And here is a summary of what Ed Bastian said:

Ed gave a chuckle when he heard this question – a friendly chuckle I think. His answer was most interesting and it came in three parts:

1. Yes, Delta loves to look at new sources of data and the Skywise platform is well integrated into the operational side of the business in engineering, maintenance and so on

2. Yes, there is huge potential to use data to understand how passengers use the products in the cabin and translate that into revenue growth – Shai agreed on this

3. But no, Delta will not be using Skywise to do it – they will build their own data collection platform into their seats and galleys.

I think that this is really interesting. Delta clearly value the data that will be generated in the cabin so much that they are going to build their own proprietary technology to do it. As a result they will certainly not be sharing it with other airlines and suppliers, which is part of the Skywise ethos. It is nice to know they share my vision.

And now Sky Pulse is here. Thank you for reading Airline Revenue Economics – tomorrow’s aviation news today!

Conclusion

Data generated in the cabin has vast potential and is only just beginning to be unlocked. With several years of experience helping Airbus understand the potential of this sort of thing I am probably the most qualified airline specialist in this area in the world right now. I can help you understand what it’s implications are for your airline or, for suppliers, your airline customers. Please get in touch.

oliver AT ransonpricing DOT com