As summer travel season approaches, companies
streamline operations and reimagine team member and traveler
experiences with the Microsoft Cloud
FORT
WORTH, Texas and REDMOND,
Wash., May 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Airlines and Microsoft Corp. are partnering to use technology to
create better, more connected experiences for customers and
American Airlines team members, supporting the robust operations of
the world's largest airline. As part of the partnership, American
will use Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform for its
airline applications and key workloads, significantly accelerating
its digital transformation and making Microsoft one of the
airline's largest technology partners.
With travel and tourism this year expected to surpass
pre-pandemic levels, the companies are preparing for a future where
consumers expect their travel experience to mimic the rest of their
lives — more connected, more personalized and more on demand than
ever.
Through their partnership, American and Microsoft aim to use
data and digital technologies to meet customer demands while also
streamlining business processes to give American team members the
tools that enable a smoother travel experience for consumers. For
example, the companies envision a future where every aspect of the
customer experience and airline operations will be optimized using
advanced analytics and other digital technologies — from enhanced
bag tracking and automatic rerouting of flights based on weather
conditions to using digital twins to simulate operations at major
hubs and proactively adjust to increase efficiencies.
"Reliably operating thousands of flights around the world to
take customers to hundreds of destinations is critical to American,
which is why the airline has chosen Microsoft's technology to
support our applications," said American Airlines Chief Information
Officer Maya Leibman. "With the
power of Microsoft Azure, American can innovate and accelerate its
technology transformation, giving our team members augmented tools
to provide our customers with an enhanced travel experience."
"As the airline industry continues to transform, building a
digital technology foundation in the cloud will be essential for
future resilience," said Judson
Althoff, EVP and chief commercial officer, Microsoft.
"Through our partnership, American Airlines is taking a
forward-thinking, cloud-first approach to using data, AI and our
collaboration platforms to reimagine not only its own operations
but the experiences of its employees and customers."
Already, American and Microsoft are progressing toward
innovative and transformational experiences for airline employees
and customers.
Using data to streamline operations and reduce travel pain
points
When an aircraft lands at American's largest hub, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW),
reaching the gate quickly is critical to running a smooth
operation. American and Microsoft are applying the power of AI,
machine learning and data analytics to reduce taxi time, saving
thousands of gallons of jet fuel per year and giving connecting
customers extra time to make their next flights. Built on Azure,
American's intelligent gating program provides real-time analysis
of data points, including routing and runway information, to
automatically assign the nearest available gate to arriving
aircraft. Previously, gating decisions for American's 136 gates at
DFW required more manual involvement from gate planners. Now, the
program can look at multiple data points simultaneously for the
hundreds of daily arrivals, saving more than a minute of taxi time
per flight. That adds up to 10 hours of reduced taxi time per day,
lower fuel usage and decreased CO2 emissions.
Enhancing frontline collaboration to drive better customer
experiences
For a flight to leave on time takes many team members behind the
scenes. Every day, maintenance personnel, ground crew, pilots,
flight attendants and gate agents work together to ensure that each
flight departs on time. Until recently, these team members — who
are always on the move and rarely tied to a desk — relied on
accessing information via desktop computers or laptops. American
and Microsoft created the ConnectMe app, which team members can
access from any mobile device via a Microsoft Power Apps-enabled
app in Microsoft Teams. With information now at its fingertips,
American has accelerated airplane turn times at gates and connected
thousands of frontline team members through a single platform.
Creating a cloud platform for the future of airline
operations
Running the world's largest airline is no small feat. Now,
through American's partnership with Microsoft, the airline will
migrate and centralize strategic operational workloads — such as
its data warehouse and several legacy applications — in one
Operations Hub on Azure, becoming one of the first global airlines
to embrace a comprehensive cloud strategy for all its business
areas. With its Operations Hub on Azure, American plans to save
costs, increase efficiency and scalability, and progress toward its
ambitious sustainability goals.
In addition to their cloud partnership, the companies are
deepening their relationship to support Microsoft employee travel.
Through the highly preferred partnership with American, Microsoft
employees will receive new, enhanced benefits when they choose
American or its alliance partners for their business travel.
Furthermore, American and Microsoft may use Microsoft employee
feedback to inform future innovations to continue driving a more
connected, seamless and personalized travel experience.
About American Airlines Group
To Care for People on
Life's Journey®. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc.
trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL, and the company's
stock is included in the S&P 500. Learn more about what's
happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect
with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at
Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft)
enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud
and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and
every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.