Airline Industry Trends to Help Your Ecommerce Sales Soar

The customer experience in the airline sector is now highly customizable. Highly personalized experiences like tailored in-flight amenities, meal preferences, seat selections, and loyalty program benefits make flying uniquely relevant at the individual passenger level. For example, American Airlines uses customer feedback to customize bedding and offer exclusive dining options in premium cabins. Micro-segmentation trends like destination-specific promotions and programs aimed at sustainability-minded customers (e.g., carbon offset programs, eco-friendly) amenities are part of this trend.

There are clearly enormous opportunities for airlines to leverage AI-driven travel personalization and other technologies that prioritize individual preferences and target offers based on customer behavior. 

It’s 2025 and personalization is now essential for carriers looking to create happier customers and grow revenue. With the potential to unlock up to $45 billion in new value by 2030, there’s a lot to unpack. AI is part of this story, particularly generative AI. It’s driving a shift in how airlines connect with travelers and, as such, is a top priority across the industry. Almost all airlines plan to develop AI solutions that better serve their customers. For industry leaders, the takeaway is clear—personalization through AI isn’t an aspirational goal. It’s a business imperative.

From tailored flight recommendations to customized travel packages, airlines are discovering that giving passengers exactly what they want, when they want it, leads to increased satisfaction and stronger bottom lines.

Examples of Airline Companies Utilizing Personalization

💬Customized Social Proof Messaging

Iberia, the leading airline in Spain, partnered with Monetate to launch personalized social proof experiences. The idea was to increase conversions on flight results pages. Iberia used our Social Proof and Automated Personalization features, displaying dynamic notifications which highlight trending flights, popular destinations, and limited seat availability. The messages were customized to each traveler’s needs using factors like booking dates to instill a sense of urgency. This personalized approach resulted in a 3.8% uplift in conversion rate and 1% increase in click-through rate.

💻Bespoke-Level Personalization

Singapore Airlines customizes offers through its KrisConnect NDC Program. NDC (New Distribution Capability) is an IATA-supported XML-based data transmission standard that enhances communications between airlines and travel agents. Through partnership with Amadeus, Singapore Airlines’ program enables the creation of personalized offerings including fares and ancillaries that are tailored to customers’ needs and preferences. 

The airline creates customized bundles for both individual travelers and corporate clients, while also providing exclusive airfares and real-time offers. Partners connected to the NDC platform can access exclusive content not available through traditional distribution channels, with the ability to create bespoke offers unique to specific agents or customers.

Airline Industry Trends

The trends in the airline industry, unsurprisingly, are tech-heavy and focus on data, personalization, and AI. Here are five of the most important and (dare we say) fascinating trends you need to know about as we head into 2025.

1. AI-Powered Hyper-Personalization 

As noted above, almost all carriers plan to develop AI programs to enhance customer experiences. AI-powered technology enables airlines to analyze huge quantities of customer data like booking history, travel preferences, travel patterns, and passenger feedback. Airlines are using AI to bundle relevant services, customize pricing, and deliver proactive customer service solutions. AI is particularly powerful when analyzing contextual data like seasonality, weather conditions, and mobile geolocation—creating what industry experts call ‘hyper-relevant’ offers.

2. Real-Time Intelligence Enables Dynamic Pricing

Airlines are leveling up their pricing strategies with advanced data analytics and NDC technology. In 2023, ATPCO reported that 23% of sold offers were dynamically created, with carriers adjusting prices in real-time based on multiple factors. Access to in-the-moment data lets airlines instantly react (and adjust) to current demand, competitor rates, weather conditions, and local events. Basically, anything that might impact travel plans. Flexible, market-responsive pricing benefits carriers by helping optimize revenue. It also helps travelers who can take advantage of targeted offers and deals.

3. Seamless Intermodal Travel Takes Shape

Much like a retail buying journey occurs across channels, touchpoints, and devices, the traveler’s buying journey involves different modes of transportation, touchpoints, and technologies. Airlines are breaking down traditional transportation silos and integrating air travel with other forms of transportation. They’re moving toward a much larger ecosystem of active contributors working together to get passengers from point A to point B. This shift requires trusted data exchange between airlines, railways, cruise lines, and ground transportation providers. It’s unifying digital systems in unprecedented ways. For example, carriers can automatically trigger alerts when delays in one mode affect connections in another—notifying passengers proactively to rebook or be on alert. 

4. The Great (Tech) Restructure

One of the lingering effects of the pandemic was the loss in Travel & Tourism industry jobs—60 million, by SITA’s count. There remains a critical shortage of workers in this sector, with 21% less workers than before the pandemic. Airlines and airports are responding by investing heavily in digital solutions and automation to create more scalable operations. It’s a shift that’s permanently changing the way work gets done. Airlines are focused on doing more with less staff. The focus is on filling skilled decision-making and service-oriented positions. When a task can be automated, it’s outsourced to the machines—check-in processes, bag drop, boarding, and data entry are increasingly handled by technology.

5. Airports Are Getting Smarter

AI and machine learning make for smarter airports and airlines. The sector is now using advanced analytics and AI to optimize the foundational aspects of air travel like flight paths and fuel management. This creates efficiencies that help save money for the airlines and improve travel for customers. Per the IATA, fuel accounts for 28.7% of operating expenses, making fuel management critical. Airlines now use real-time data and predictive algorithms to optimize routes based on weather patterns, air traffic, and fuel consumption. This operational intelligence translates directly to passenger benefits—fewer delays, smoother connections, and more reliable schedules.

How Can a Personalization Platform Help Your Revenue Soar?  

Air travel isn’t a one-size-fits-all experience anymore. Here’s how a personalization platform can transform the way airlines connect with their customers and boost their bottom line.

1. Motivate Bookings with Personalization 

Airlines can significantly boost conversion rates by implementing personalized social proof messaging and targeted offers for travelers. As Iberia’s success demonstrates, this is a powerful way to motivate travelers to convert. It led to a 3.8% increase in conversion rates to booked flights and a 1% uplift in click-through rates.

2. Create Urgency Through Smart Messaging

Many things (outside of your control) can impact the travel experience, so being proactive about communication is absolutely essential. Smart messaging lets airlines display dynamic notifications that help travelers reach their destination. For example, you can alert customers about trending flights, limited seat availability, weather conditions, and issues with transportation partners. This creates a sense of urgency that drives bookings while also keeping your customers up to date on the most pressing information.

3. Deliver Hyper-Relevant Recommendations

By analyzing real-time customer data, including booking history, browsing behavior, and preferences, airlines can provide highly relevant flight options and ancillary services at the individual level. An AI-powered personalization engine like Monetate uses machine learning to continuously adapt to customer needs and the airline’s business goals.

4. Upsell and Cross-Sell with Dynamic Bundling

Airlines can intelligently group complementary travel offerings like hotels, car rentals, and activities using travelers’ preferences and booking patterns. This dynamic bundling of travel services is an excellent strategy for increasing average order value. The key is that add-ons must be relevant and focused on enhancing the individual traveler’s journey.