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Domain Knowledge for Business Analyst: Airline Software Ecosystem 01
4 min readMar 8, 2021
Orchestrated view of all the software in the airline ecosystem
How does the airline industry impact the world?
- It is indispensable to the tourism industry — today, you could just pick a place on the map: Jaipur, Kyoto, Melbourne, Singapore, Dubai and plan your vacations. You do that because you know full well that there is no place in the world that is not connected by airlines. The tourism industry is massively dependent on good and frequent airline connectivity. When airlines are stopped in peace or in times of war, tourism gets hit really badly.
- It facilitates world trade — by transporting high-value goods like electronics, jewelry, and pharmaceuticals. Any consumer good that needs to get into the customer’s hands quickly tends to travel through the skies-iPhone, clothes by Zara, etc.
- It improves the efficiency of the supply chain — Just look at the Apple example. It chooses primarily air freight methods for its products to maximize speed for its supply chain process. It’s not worth the risk for a customer in America (for example) to find iPhones out of stock and buy an Android instead.
- It aids in the movement of human capital — The fact that it is so easy to travel these days means that skilled workers choose to relocate to any part of the world at a short notice. It gives impetus to collaboration in companies where the staff is split between multiple countries.
How do airlines make money?
- Tickets — Two-thirds of any airline’s revenue comes from passengers in first, business, or premium economy class.
- Ancillary services — These include revenue by selling inflight meals, reserved seating, priority boarding, baggage fees, seat upselling, etc.
- Cargo — 12% of airline industry revenue is generated by transportation of air cargo.
Fun fact : Did you know, you can fit 200,000 iPhones in a Boeing 747–8 freighter?
What are airline alliances and how do they work?
