Airline IT spend is estimated to have reached $37 billion in 2024 up from 2023's figure of $35 billion.
The SITA 2024 Air Transport IT Insights report revealed the investment is at its highest level since 2019 amid record revenue for airlines and increasing passenger numbers.
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As a share of revenue, IT spend rose two percentage points to 3.8% following a dip from 4.1% in 2022 to 3.6% in 2023.
The report also revealed that 72% of IT executives at the top 379 passenger airlines believe technology spend will increase further in 2025.
Respondents said cybersecurity, data analysis and sharing and passenger management were the top areas they plan to devote IT resources to.
And, when it comes to operational priorities, 55% of airline IT professionals said airline and Operations Control Center systems were a top three investment area followed by IT infrastructure, 42% and cloud services, 31%.
Over the next 12 months respondents said they expect to invest most in getting maximum value from data with the top two spend priorities listed as generative artificial intelligence, 56% and business intelligence software, 48%.
Airlines are also seeking to firm up their digital transformation plans according to the report with a view to establishing a "viable foundation for major technological innovations like AI."
The finding is supported by a recent update from British Airways on its two-year £7B transformation which includes £100 million devoted to automation, AI and machine learning initiatives.
Southwest Airlines earmarked $1.7 billion to invest in technology in 2024 including upgrades, maintenance and cloud migration.
When it comes to their AI journeys, a quarter of airlines said they are collecting and integrating data with AI, a further 42% are looking at how to organize data to support AI initiatives and 25% said they're starting to train AI on their data.
The primary use of AI currently within airlines is for internal/operational efficiencies according to the report.
The IT professionals also listed their top IT and data challenges currently with 31% citing agile and flexible work structure, 30% saying cyber threats, 23% saying use of data to improve operational efficiency and 23% saying data maturity.
Further findings revealed in the report include an increase in implementation of ‘single token’ from 17% to 24% of airlines.
The wider introduction of biometric technologies has remained flat although 75% of airlines said they are planning to introduce biometrics by 2027.