A report spearheaded by air transport industry IT provider SITA has highlighted generative AI and urban air mobility (UAM) to be the two most significant trends predicted to impact the air travel sector over the next decade.
SITA’s ‘Meet the Megatrends’ report, headed by the SITA Lab innovation team and drawing on insights from across the global industry, identified what SITA describes as ’12 emerging technological, societal, traveller, and economic trends that will significantly morph the travel landscape by 2023’.
Generative AI technology has ‘surged to the top of airport and airlines, with 97% of airlines planning a program to develop the technology,’ explains SITA. 86% of airlines are already collaborating to make use of the rapidly expanding technology, with 39% having already implemented ‘advancements in AI, machine learning, and computer vision’. 16% of airports currently use AI and machine learning, with a further 51% having confirmed plans to do so by the end of 2026.
Additionally, the exponential increase in viable urban air mobility technology – alongside increased demand for short-range routes and efforts to mitigate aviation’s carbon footprint – has also seen the sector receive ‘surging interest from airlines and airports’. Investment in the urban air mobility sector (across all stakeholders) is expected to increase nearly sixfold from $5 billion in 2022 to $28 billion in 2030.
32% of airlines have confirmed major programmes and R&D into urban air mobility services and infrastructure, with 33% investing in vertical take off and landing (VTOL) integration technologies for airline operations. 26% of airports are also investing in technologies for VTOL integration.
“It’s an exciting time for travel with new technologies transforming our industry at rates previously unseen,” concluded Patrik Svensson Gillstedt, senior vice president, strategy and growth enablement at SITA.