Now boarding: AI-based inflight trip planning.
AirFi is launching WingMan, an AI-powered travel assistant to augment its inflight entertainment platform. Connected via the company’s AirFi LEO lightweight connectivity solution, WingMan offers itinerary planning and destination recommendations for travelers during their flight so they can be ready to go when they land.
AI is transforming the way we travel, and bringing that capability onboard creates new possibilities for both passengers and airlines. This is just one of many unique features that we have in the roadmap for our LEO Connectivity solution. – AirFi CEO of Laura Rösges
WingMan can integrate with the AirFi entertainment platform or operate standalone for passengers. The web-based experience prompts users for a number of trip details, including destination, trip duration, group size, and budget. That data is then transmitted over the AirFi LEO connection, powered by the Iridium Certus satellite service, to be processed on the ground through what AirFi calls “an advanced AI algorithm.” Ultimately the system returns a customized itinerary for the traveler.
The company notes that WingMan also presents a new ancillary revenue channel opportunity for airlines. They can integrate passenger offers for bookings in the travel recommendations process, grabbing a commission along the way.
Destination guidance is an area where IFE providers continue to advance. Most of that progress has been via the Moving Map or focused on ground transportation recently, but there are other ways to make it work. This certainly could be one of them.
AI-based trip planning has been a commonly touted use case in recent years, though delivering a reliable set of destination recommendations has not always proven functional. And there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Generative AI given its environmental impact and how many of the systems are trained on stolen content.
That said, this sort of thing is attracting plenty of attention on the supplier side as it creates the opportunities for that highly sought ancillary revenue boost. Maybe this will be a version that delivers?
-Seth
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