Digitising In-Flight and Ground Travel Services

A well-known transatlantic airline partnered with us and our strategic delivery partner to modernise its core customer-facing services ranging from check-in and seat reservations to complaints handling and call centre processes.

The result was a shared services architecture, designed to accelerate the organisation’s digital transformation and enable the creation of reusable service components across the business.

Situation

Following a period of sustained growth, the airline faced the challenge of supporting its expanding operations on a digital estate that had become increasingly complex to maintain. Legacy systems, though strategically developed over time, were now proving difficult and costly to integrate with new technologies.

The business recognised that maintaining the status quo would hinder innovation and responsiveness. In response, it embarked on the development of a Shared Service Platform (SSP) a foundational capability that would underpin a more agile and scalable digital strategy across the organisation.

Digital systems which are complex to maintain and integrate

Implementing change is expensive and time consuming

Increasing competitive landscape and costs to support and maintain the existing digital platform

In need of a high performing solution capable of coping with increased demand

Solution

The SSP was built on a service-oriented architecture, acting as a consistent integration layer across various legacy systems and external partners. This architectural shift enabled the airline to streamline how changes were introduced, significantly reducing the lead time and cost usually associated with legacy transformation.

Over a 24-month period, we worked collaboratively with the airline’s internal teams and our strategic partner to deliver a well-structured platform that improved integration, simplified operations, and enhanced digital responsiveness across the enterprise.

Agile and Kanban development methodologies ensured incremental delivery, adaptability, and transparency throughout the project. Enterprise-grade technologies such as Microsoft BizTalk, SQL Server, Oracle, XML, and HP formed the backbone of the new platform.

Development of the Shared Service Platform

Technology included: Microsoft Biztalk, SQLServer, Oracle, XML and HP

An Agile/Kanban working practices ensured collaborative and effective working procedures

Project delivered against an aggressive timeline

Outcomes

The successful delivery of the Shared Service Platform was grounded in early alignment and close collaboration. A new, cross-functional delivery team was rapidly assembled, enabling momentum from the outset and ensuring knowledge transfer and trust developed quickly.

One of the most immediate impacts of the platform was that customers could, for the first time, self-serve via the airline’s website, allocating seats, selecting meals, and managing other travel preferences online. Previously, these services were only available through the call centre.

The new platform also scaled effectively in response to rising demand, helping the airline enhance customer experience while improving operational efficiency.

New platform enabled airline customers to self-service for the first time

Ability to use website to allocate seats, book meal preference and other services

Reduce reliance on call centre

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