Korean Air is the first of its size in Asia-Pacific to implement the Amadeus Digital Experience suite

As airlines prepare to take off in a post-pandemic world, carriers need to figureout how to rebuild in a rapidly evolving global environment where historical data no longer applies. As the travel ecosystem charts a new chapter, airlines have begun to prioritize digital transformation,sustainability, customer well-being, and innovation as pillars towards a recovery.

Korean Air will be leading the change, as the national carrier to one of the world’s most digitally connected countries, and will be using Amadeus Digital Experience Suite (DES), a key component of the Amadeus Airline Platform in the redesign of its website and mobile platform.

The expanded partnership with Amadeus supports the acceleration of digital transformation for Korean Air, along with the renewal of Altea Passenger Service System agreement. Korean Air will be one of the largest airlines globally to implement the Amadeus Digital Experience Suite later this year.

“In these unprecedented times, it is encouraging to be able to collaborate with partners like Amadeus. Korean Air is focused on accelerating our goal of digital transformation, with the full commitment of our leadership team. By leveraging our partnership with Amadeus, we can streamline our operations and reach that goal faster. This will take Korean Air to a next level of international growth, enhancing forward thinking to deliver the ultimate customer experience,” says Kenneth Chang, Executive Vice President and CMO, Korean Air.

As airlines emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation is one of the focus points of the aviation industry. Investments in innovation and technology such as touchless biometrics, self-service and apps are expected to help propel and lead the industry’s recovery. (source: FTE/APEX report)

DES is part of the Amadeus Airline Platform, an open platform which simplifies and streamlines – removing complexity for airlines so they can focus on managing and growing their business, innovating, and delivering personalized traveler experiences. The platform has several layers, one of which is Digital Experience Suite, which gives airlines flexibility to work with third-party partners and developers, in order to fast-track innovation. Day-to-day operations will be more agile, allowing Korean Air to integrate technologies and services from Amadeus or from other partners and developers. Amadeus Digital Experience Suite will allow for Korean Air to highly customize its website, providing customers with a simple and interactive interface, hiding the weave of complex business solutions needed to provide a seamless customer experience. 

For example, the airline can create a shopping cart with the removal of session constraints; which allows customers to retain their history of selected flights and avoid having to restart and pick an itinerary from scratch thus creating a smoother retail experience. Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President, Airlines, Asia Pacific, Amadeus says: “We are very pleased to reaffirm our partnership with Korean Air and play a key role in its growth strategy. Amadeus’ Airline Platform is simple, open and agile, and will support Korean Air in innovating, collaborating and experimenting to create new products which will add value and create personalized retail experiences for its passengers.”

The renewal of the full Amadeus Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS) agreement will provide Korean Air closely integrated passenger data and the ability to deliver a more consistent service across all customer touchpoints. Altéa technology will also help Korean Air drive up revenue through multiple sales channels offered by the Altéa Suite. By combining DES with existing Altéa technology, the airline aims to further boost its retailing capabilities through a more personalized offer and improve back-end efficiency. Korean Air and Amadeus have a long-standing partnership, with Korean Air being a key advocate for innovation and the winner of the 2019 Amadeus Airlines Hackathon.