{"id":15122,"date":"2016-11-16T18:08:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/clear-jetblue-skies\/"},"modified":"2016-11-16T18:12:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:12:12","slug":"clear-jetblue-skies","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/clear-jetblue-skies\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear (jet)Blue Skies"},"content":{"rendered":"

With over 3.4 billion passengers jet-setting around the world each year, the commercial airline industry is arguably one of the most demanding and complex industries to operate [1].\u00a0 According to an Accenture article on the digital transformation of airlines, a competitive advantage requires prioritizing five areas of digitization: real time insights, connected platforms, products and services, open platforms, and transformation into a [truly] digital airline [2].\u00a0 JetBlue, the fifth largest US-based carrier, recently has been focusing on the first three of those areas to improve their competitiveness and provide a superior service to customers.<\/p>\n

Maintenance Platform<\/em><\/p>\n

Maintenance is paramount to the safe and reliable operations of an airline, given that some of the most complex machines in modern history complete over 600 billion miles of air travel per year with nearly zero room for error.\u00a0 JetBlue began using the digital maintenance tracking platform TRAX in 2006 but just this year introduced the robust enhancement of this program by partnering with Cintra, a platform manager that utilizes Oracle\u2019s cloud-based architecture [3]. Introducing digital optimization that links the existing maintenance system of parts suppliers, mechanics, and airline terminal and hangar operations has created incredible results,\u00a0to include reducing certain operations by upwards of 20x.<\/p>\n

Customer-facing Innovation<\/em><\/p>\n

As customers develop higher expectations of service, personalization, flexibility, and value, airlines must provide innovative platforms with digital underpinnings to satisfy these expectations and remain competitive.\u00a0 JetBlue launched their customer application in 2012, in parallel with the other top-five US carriers and offering many of the same features such as digital check-in, flight booking, and flight updates. \u00a0Recently though, jetBlue has enhanced the flight booking experience by offering \u201cfare families\u201d that enable customers to pick, in more detail than ever before, the specific levels of service for their particular travel requirement [3].\u00a0 For example, a business traveler on a short trip may save money by booking the cheapest ticket option that does not provide for a checked bag.\u00a0 This added flexibility is increasingly desired by customers reluctant to pay for unnecessary services and shifts the burden of finite resources, such as overhead baggage space or legroom, to other customers that are more willing to pay.\u00a0 Also, because the customer application runs on the same internal cloud platform as the aforementioned maintenance platform, jetBlue retains more revenue from ticket sales that would traditionally be routed through a third-party host and developer [3].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"jetblue-app-image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Electronic Flight Bag<\/em><\/p>\n

Digital applications seem to enhance every aspect of our modern lives and the same can be said of an application by Jeppeson, a Boeing subsidiary, that streamlines the on-board flight operations for jetBlue pilots.\u00a0\u00a0 In 2015, jetBlue adopted the tablet application that manages flight information, provides improved navigation data and terminal charts, and improves overall situational awareness for the pilots [4].\u00a0 Needless to say, this capability also saves the airline approximately $840,000 annually, as it eliminates the need for lengthy paper charts and flight information, sometimes weighing in excess of 50 pounds [4].\u00a0 This technology first came to market through open-source development and was only recently approved for commercial use by the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n

Next Steps<\/em><\/p>\n

As airlines watch their margins shrink in the hyper-competitive and crowded space of air travel, jetBlue will have to find new opportunities to streamline operations, save money, and increase revenue by improving the customer experience.\u00a0 By partnering with airports, jetBlue and other airlines can improve on all three of these areas simultaneously and increasingly differentiate their specific brand.\u00a0 A 2015 McKinsey & Company paper titled The Clairvoyant Airline<\/em> outlines the theoretical benefits of an airline that can predict users\u2019 movements through an airport and integrate that information into front-line and internal operations [5].<\/p>\n

Hold That Flight!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hypothetically, if an airline possessed the ability to track a customer through the stages of check-in, security, and gate arrival, aircraft departures could be delayed or passengers shifted to other later departing flights to minimize the costly and painstaking process of re-scheduling a flight.\u00a0 Imagine that you are at the airport two hours early for your flight to New York while another passenger on an imminently departing flight is currently stuck in road traffic.\u00a0 If an airline could detect this and send you to the earlier departing flight and rebook the other passenger to a later flight, all parties, to include the airline, would benefit.\u00a0 Such customer tracking could be achieved with current smartphone capabilities and RFID technology, or \u201cinternet of things\u201d based technologies.\u00a0 Similar systematic improvements to baggage movement and security screening queues using location tracking technology would dramatically improve internal operations and the customer experience, both advantages necessary for an airline to differentiate from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Word Count [769]<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/p>\n

[1] The World Bank, Air Transport, Passengers Carried<\/em>, accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[2] Accenture, \u201cMake Your Digital Connection: From Digital Strategy to Airline Strategy,<\/em>\u201d 2016.<\/p>\n

[3] Cintra, \u201cDigital Transformation Drives Fleet and Passenger Growth at JetBlue Airways,\u201d 2016.<\/p>\n

[4] \u201cJeppesen FliteDeck Pro on Ipad Helps Airlines Eliminate Paper, Gain Fuel Savings.\u201d Jeppesen News Release. Denver, CO, September 30, 2015.<\/p>\n

[5] Mckinsey & Company, \u201cThe Clairvoyant Airline,\u201d 2015.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Images (in order of appearance in the text):<\/p>\n

[cover image<\/em>] JetBlue Media Room,\u00a0Multimedia<\/em> [http:\/\/mediaroom.jetblue.com\/media-room\/multimedia\/images\/a320.aspx].<\/p>\n

\u201cThe JetBlue App: Take JetBlue Everywhere You Go,\u201d Think with Google<\/em> (blog), November 2012. [https:\/\/www.thinkwithgoogle.com\/campaigns\/jetblue-airways-the-jetblue-app.html], accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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