AI Is Our Superpower: Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, CDTO, Air India, on Reimagining Aviation with Agentic AI
Air India is transforming into an AI-first airline, leveraging generative AI and cloud technologies to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.
In an exclusive interview with Express Computer, Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Air India, sheds light on the airline’s ambitious journey towards becoming an AI-first organisation. As one of the first global carriers to adopt Salesforce’s Agentic AI, Air India is revolutionising customer experience, refund automation, and operational agility. Dr. Ramaswamy discusses the strategic vision behind the digital transformation, how AI is reshaping employee roles, and what lies ahead for the aviation sector.
Air India has been pioneering step by step, becoming one of the first global airlines to go live with Salesforce Agent. What drove this decision? I am sure there are a lot of technologies at the moment, but it has to really align with your business goals before investing. How does it align with your broader vision of becoming an AI-first airline?
Becoming an AI-infused airline, as we call it, has been part of our plan from the beginning, even when we started this transformation journey three years ago. We set ourselves a few approaches: first, to be fully cloud-based; second, to be mobile-friendly; third, to have beautifully designed digital interfaces; fourth, to be a data-driven organisation; and fifth, to be AI-infused. We knew AI would have a significant impact. However, investment decisions must be driven by actual needs. Our budget is limited, so we focus on technologies that will have the maximum impact on our problems or opportunities. We identified Agentic-A as a technology that would help solve pain points for customers, employees, and partners. It allows us to scale rapidly, especially as we plan to induct hundreds of new airplanes, leading to increased passenger and support volumes. Automation is key to managing this growth efficiently.
Refund processing has traditionally been a complex and time-consuming area. How has Agentic-A helped reimagine and streamline this process? Are you at that stage already?
Traditionally, issuing a refund report would take several days due to multiple handoffs between departments, each performing their own policy checks. Now, with Agentic-A, we can process it within a few hours. Currently, we have a final human approval step, but once we are 100% confident, we can remove that as well, making the process nearly instantaneous. We can inform the customer promptly about the refund and its expected payment timeline.
Following the successful automation, what other customer service areas or touchpoints are you prioritising for transformation using Agentic-A, particularly with the upcoming voice AI capabilities?
There are multiple areas concerning customers, which are a top focus for us. We aim to excel in providing a great airline experience. Additionally, we are looking at areas where we can improve employee experiences. Some business processes take time due to manual checks with various departments, which cannot be automated so far. However, with Agentic-A, we can automate some of these tasks. We are evaluating various pain points across operations, crew management, aircraft management, and other areas to determine where Agentic-A can be beneficial. We approach this by first identifying the problem and then assessing if Agentic-A is the best solution.
As AI becomes more embedded in services and operations, how are you preparing your workforce, especially your frontline agents, to collaborate efficiently with AI systems while also maintaining a human touch in customer interactions?
The human touch is important. At the end of the day, customers are more comfortable interacting with human agents. Even if everything is automated, the final step of contacting the customer and informing them about the resolution will be done by a human agent. We will empower our frontline employees, like cabin crew, with AI tools that can advise them in various situations, providing them with the necessary information and support. This approach ensures that they can maintain the human touch while leveraging AI for assistance.
Looking at the broader aviation landscape, how do you envision Agentic-A and AI transforming industry standards for customer experience, operational agility, and competitiveness in the coming years?
These AI technologies are like superpowers. Organisations that adopt them quickly and use them efficiently will have a competitive advantage. Our Gen-A HR-8RG, in particular, is very competitive with the global aviation industry, providing us with significant advantages. It allows us to save costs and deliver a consistent experience. We see AI, especially Agentic-A, as a key advantage and are making strategic moves to leverage it. We aim to use it to enhance both employee and customer experiences, as well as improve interactions with other enterprises. While it may take some years for the full potential to play out, we can already see the promise.
Looking ahead, what are your focus areas for the next couple of years as a technology leader in the industry?
Our focus is on delivering the best customer experience in the world using all available digital technologies. This will be a significant focus for us, with AI and Agentic-A playing crucial roles.
Apart from this collaboration, are there any recent technology initiatives that you have rolled out that are of significant importance?
Yes, we are using Gen-A in multiple impactful use cases. Our mobile app and website have been revamped to enhance customer experience. The website recently received the ‘Experience Maker of the Year’ award from Adobe globally. This recognition is significant as Adobe is used by many companies worldwide. We aim to make the customer experience exceptional and solve organisational and operational challenges through these initiatives.
