AI: the co‑pilot of customer relations in the aviation sector
Airlines must meet the expectations of increasingly connected travellers who demand swift, reliable and personalised solutions, even in complex situations. The ability to provide an immediate response is essential to maintaining customer satisfaction, strengthening loyalty and preserving competitiveness in a market that is particularly sensitive to the quality of the experience.
To achieve this, automation, self‑service and the use of AI have become key drivers.
However, these technologies do not replace customer service teams: they enhance them. They allow advisers to focus on what truly matters, especially in times of crisis: listening, empathy, reassurance and the handling of complex cases. No algorithm can replace the warmth of a human interaction when a traveller finds themselves in a critical situation.
An overview of AI’s contribution to customer relations in the airline industry
Before each interaction, AI anticipates needs: a voice bot can collect key information (booking reference, reason for contact), direct the customer to the right adviser or answer simple questions. Intelligent workflows analyse back‑office requests, prioritise cases based on their complexity or the tone of the message, and suggest personalised services when the adviser engages with the customer. In terms of complaints, automated refunds make after‑sales processes more reliable and reduce processing times.
During the exchange, AI supports the adviser: the CRM connected to the airline’s databases provides instant access to the passenger’s profile and history. Enhanced by AI, it incorporates intelligent knowledge bases and offers contextualised responses, which streamlines communication, particularly during disruptions. For written interactions, AI enables translations into the customer’s native language, helping to rationalise linguistic resources and optimise costs.
After the exchange, AI capitalises on the data collected: automatic generation of call summaries, analysis of emotions and friction points, and detection of weak signals to improve the customer experience. It also contributes to assessing the quality of interactions, enabling managers to monitor performance and guide teams towards excellence.
This continuous presence enhances responsiveness and relevance, while allowing advisers to focus on their essential mission: creating emotional value.
Essential safeguards for responsible AI
Generative AI is not an absolute source of truth. It determines the most probable response and therein lies the risk. It may occasionally produce errors, approximations or inappropriate answers. In a field as sensitive as aviation, where each interaction can have significant consequences, such risks are unacceptable.
To mitigate them, human vigilance remains the first line of defence. AI suggests, but the employee validates. This supervision requires advisers trained in critical thinking, capable of spotting anomalies and intervening quickly.
To this must be added technological safeguards: confidence thresholds defining when AI can respond autonomously, reliable and closed data sources, and traceability of exchanges to enable auditing if needed.
Finally, strict governance is indispensable: regular audits, GDPR compliance and a dedicated AI officer to oversee the reliability and ethics of the systems.
At BlueLink, our vision is built on a careful balance between human expertise, process improvement and the implementation of new technologies.Investing in people remains essential to manage complexity and create emotional value by developing soft skills and other key competencies for strong relational interactions.
Customer relations are and will remain a major differentiating factor for brands even more so in critical moments such as crises or operational disruptions.