Air line industry is facing the devastating effects of rising oil prices. In such a situation, you might think that spend on IT would not be feasible for air line industry. However, according to Lufthansa Passenger Airlines’ CIO, it is implausible to think that big spend on IT is a drain on an airline’s finances. In contrast to this, he believes that spend on IT is a smart move as a big IT budget is the sign of a company making savings in other areas.
Big spend on IT is a smart move for any airline industry and IT is a productivity gainer. If your IT spend is more than other airlines, then it shows more automation of other things. These things are not said by a lay man but were said in a discussion by a CEO of a leading airline company at the Sita 2011 Air Transport IT summit in Brussels last week.
According to Klingenberg, a big IT budget brings greater return on investments. He believes that IT department should have a greater say in the making management decisions. He admits that IT is a sector which any airline company should not ignore as this can be very unprofitable for them. He strongly believes that if IT will get involved in making management decisions then it will be very profitable. If both technical and business side of an airline company is healthy and strong then there is no doubt that the company will gain big profits in the long run. He believes that there is a big need of management to understand technology and its terms so that it can make wise investments in profitable sectors.
According to an airline IT chief, offering new technologies to passengers like social media and smart phone applications or an Ipad application is not the way to expand the profits. Tough providing facilities to customers is a necessary task and people get attracted towards these things. Being pragmatic, these things will not give any airline business any lasting edge over the competition since these technologies are copied by other airlines in few days. Provision of services to passengers via mobile devices like tablets and smart phones is a solution, found in the Sita Airline IT Trends survey of 91 airlines. These big investments in IT can bring some good news for airline companies.