AI and digital transformation reshape aviation, but safety remains non-negotiable

At the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon, Hitit CEO Nevra Onursal Karaağaç and digital transformation lead Aras Kubilay urged gradual modernisation of airline systems and warned of the risks of adopting AI without a clear strategy. Artificial intelligence and digital transformation are opening up new possibilities for commercial aviation, from personalising the passenger experience to forecasting operational disruption. But the modernisation of a highly regulated sector demands changes that go far beyond technology, argue two executives from Hitit, a Turkish provider of technology solutions for the aviation industry, in an interview with Euronews during the World Aviation Festival (source in Portuguese), in Lisbon. For Aras Kubilay, who is responsible for industry engagement and business development at Hitit (source in Portuguese), aviation is facing a structural shift in the way it manages its digital systems. The challenge is to modernise the infrastructure underpinning day-to-day operations without compromising flight continuity and passenger satisfaction. "Airlines are extremely complex businesses and they operate continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. That means they cannot simply shut down operations for several days to replace their core IT systems. The scale of the challenge becomes even clearer when set against the pace of digital transformation. According to Kubilay, airlines are well aware that they need to change, but many still struggle to take the first steps. He cited survey data collected from industry executives last year: 72% regarded digital transformation as crucial. This year, he said that during the WAF he had heard estimates that the share has risen above 90%, although he stressed that he does not have an updated official figure. Even so, only 27% of airlines are thought to have taken concrete action. "If we do not move in this direction in the next two to three years, we could face problems," he warned. Instead of attempting to replace an entire infrastructure in one go, Kubilay advocates a phased approach, allowing carriers to pinpoint specific issues and roll out incremental improvements. "You do not start with a major overhaul all at once. You replace parts as needed and then, if the results are positive, you keep going in that direction," he explained. Where is AI adding value in aviation? Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this transformation, but its use needs to be tied to concrete objectives. In Kubilay's view, airlines must first decide whether they want to increase revenues, cut costs or improve the customer experience before launching new projects. "If they say they are going to do everything at once, simply by adding an AI label, they will spend money and nothing will happen", he cautioned. Hitit says it already embeds AI tools in different components of its solutions, including cost accounting, reporting and the management of operational disruption. Nevra Onursal Karaağaç, the company's CEO, explained that these applications can make users' work easier, allowing them, for example, to obtain reports by submitting written requests, without having to manually enter multiple parameters. The technology can also help to anticipate weather-related problems affecting flights. Kubilay described a model that combines physical characteristics of runways, their orientation to the wind and weather patterns to predict situations in which a flight may have to be rescheduled. With that information, airlines can anticipate potential delays or reroutings, instead of reacting only once a disruption has already occurred. Despite these possibilities, he warned of the risks of relying blindly on AI systems, especially in customer service. Without naming the airline, he referred to a case where an artificial intelligence system is said to have allowed refunds above the amount paid and changes to flights that should not have been authorised. "In such a sensitive and complex sector as air transport, it may be necessary to think twice," he noted. Safety, he stressed, must not be sacrificed in the name of convenience. Systems need to be configured with clear rules and limits on what they can do, with appropriate control mechanisms remaining in place. Karaağaç also emphasised that developing technology for aviation requires more than programming skills. "You need to understand the aviation world itself," she said, arguing for collaboration between industry consultants, business analysts and development teams. The spread of artificial intelligence is also changing the way passengers search for and purchase flights. For Kubilay, this shift could be an opportunity for airlines to regain control over their relationship with customers, in a market where flight comparison sites and digital intermediaries tend to make price and schedule the central factors in travellers' decisions. As AI assistants become more widespread, passengers may start to search for trips through conversational queries, specifying not only their destination but also the purpose of their journey or their preferences. That information and context could help airlines put forward more relevant offers, instead of presenting a long list of undifferentiated options. "If they do not control customer engagement, it is very easy to swap one airline for another," he argued. Kubilay believes personalisation can benefit both passengers, who will save time finding what they are looking for, and airlines, which will be able to offer products better tailored to each person's needs. Even so, the transformation should preserve the familiarity of these digital platforms. When systems are modernised, the aim should not be to force passengers to learn how to use apps and platforms all over again. "Ideally, people should not be able to tell that anything has changed. The only things they should notice are that everything works better and has become simpler," he explained. A future without check-in? One change that Kubilay sees as feasible in the coming years is the elimination of check-in as a distinct step in air travel. He recalled that the process dates back to the era of paper tickets, when part of the document had to be torn off to confirm its use. Despite digitalisation, some of those practices remain embedded in today's systems. "We want to abolish check-in completely. You buy your ticket, go to the plane and that is it," he explained. Bringing that vision to life will, however, depend on the co-operation of the entire industry. Verifying passengers' identity, border controls and security requirements involve different entities and cannot be solved by a single company in isolation. Kubilay highlighted an initiative developed using standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and promoted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), called Digital Travel Credentials (DTC), which aims to facilitate the use of digital identity credentials. The goal is to cut down on the need for passengers to repeatedly present and validate the same information throughout their journey. According to him, an IATA study found that, on a typical trip, passengers have to provide the same information seven times. "We have to show our ID when we make the booking, when we check in baggage, when we board the plane, when we go through customs. Then again when we land. Why can I not do this just once and the authorities communicate among themselves?" he asked. Any reduction in these steps will nonetheless have to respect security requirements. Kubilay explained that digital credentials can be verified through digital signatures and confirmation of their authenticity by the issuing authorities. The aim is to simplify travel without compromising the safety of passengers and operations. Hitit seeks to consolidate international expansion Founded in 1994 by two women, Hitit started out developing passenger loyalty solutions and progressively expanded its activity to core reservation systems, ticketing, check-in and other airline operations. The company now develops solutions covering a range of operational needs, including schedule planning, operations control, accounting, cargo and travel agency systems. According to Karaağaç, Hitit worked with 17 airlines in 2018 and, in 2026, provides services to nearly 70 carriers. The most recent public figures cited by the Turkish firm's CEO point to 68 airlines in 47 countries, with its solutions used at more than 900 airports. "Although our roots are in Turkey and the company was founded in Turkey, we are already a global business," Nevra Karaağaç underlined. Hitit became a company listed on the Istanbul stock exchange in 2022. For Karaağaç, international expansion will continue to be based on close relationships with airlines and the ability to adapt to their needs. Kubilay, for his part, argues that the future of aviation technology will depend on more interoperable systems that allow airlines to combine solutions from different providers without being locked into a single partner. Operators should avoid situations in which they lose control of their own data or find themselves unable to switch provider. "Technology must be compatible with the future," he cautioned, explaining that companies need flexibility to adapt to changes they cannot yet foresee. Looking ahead to the next five years, Kubilay expects digital transformation, the modernisation of commercial systems and the adoption of AI to reach a sufficiently broad scale to become the industry norm, while maintaining safety, operational continuity and passenger trust, even if the sector's most ambitious goals are not achieved within the original deadlines.