Lufthansa Group, the airline holding company behind the German, Swiss and Austrian flag carriers, is set to utilise Google Cloud to optimise its operations performance. It hopes that by combining previously disparate systems and data feeds into one unified platform it will be able to improve operational efficiency, and reduce delays that customers have to deal with.
The move to Google Cloud will have an effect on almost all of Lufthansa Group’s operations, with the firm set to utilise Google’s infrastructure to make decisions concerning aircraft rotation, aircraft maintenance, crew assignments, and more. Utilising machine learning and AI, Lufthansa Group will receive recommendations that should improve passenger punctuality, on-time flights and flight plan adherence in case of disruptions, such as weather events or delays due to airspace congestion.
To support Lufthansa Group in designing and implementing the platform, an onsite Google Cloud team will work hand-in-hand with operations and IT experts from Lufthansa Group.
“By combining Google Cloud’s technology with Lufthansa Group’s operational expertise, we are driving the digitisation of our operation even further,” said Dr. Detlef Kayser, member of the executive board of the Lufthansa Group.
“This will enable us to identify possible flight irregularities even earlier and implement countermeasures at an early stage.”
“Through this collaboration, we have a significant opportunity to revolutionize the future of airline operations,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO for Google Cloud.
“We’re bringing the best of Lufthansa Group and Google Cloud together to solve airlines’ biggest challenges and positively impact the travel experience of the more than 145 million passengers that fly annually with them.”
Lufthansa Group isn’t the first European airline to leverage the public cloud to optimise its performance. Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair, chose to begin transitioning from its own data centres back in 2018, with the firm now largely using Amazon Web Services for all of its data needs, whether it’s analytics, machine learning, or providing the backbone to the Ryanair website.
