Day 3 of World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon placed airports and passenger experience firmly in the spotlight, with global leaders exploring how infrastructure, technology and customer centric innovation will shape the future of air travel.
Growth and transformation in Saudi Arabia
In a fireside chat, Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s low-cost carrier flyadeal, outlined the airline’s rapid growth trajectory. Founded in 2017 and now operating 42 aircraft, flyadeal expects capacity to grow by 42% next year as new aircraft join the fleet.
Greenway highlighted the unique strength of Saudi Arabia’s domestic market, which accounts for 75% of the airline’s capacity, while international expansion is accelerating. Recent approvals to fly over Syrian airspace will cut flight times by up to 50 minutes on routes such as Riyadh to Istanbul. flyadeal is also supporting religious pilgrimage with dedicated charter operations.
JFK’s Terminal One: a new standard for US airports
Lisa Reifer, leading the transformation of Terminal One at JFK, shared how the project is setting a new benchmark for smart, inclusive and sustainable airport design.
Key innovations include dynamic digital signage to improve passenger flow, touchpoints throughout the journey to support travellers with different needs, advanced docking systems to enhance safety and operational efficiency, and sustainability by design, with solar panels providing renewable energy and all electric ground service equipment.
Reifer stressed that partnership and collaboration have been critical to delivering such a complex project, as it gave the ability to leverage diverse perspectives to set a new standard in airport design.
Customer experience leaders on innovation and expectations
A panel of customer experience leaders from TAP Air Portugal, Star Alliance, IndiGo, Meta and IBM explored how airlines and partners can deliver customer centric innovation in an era of diverse traveller needs. Sofia Lufinha from TAP Air Portugal emphasised that technology is a tool, not an end in itself, and that listening to customers is the foundation of innovation. IndiGo’s Neha Narain noted that many of its passengers are first time flyers, meaning technology must be applied thoughtfully to avoid creating barriers. Ambar Franco of Star Alliance showcased how technology underpins seamless journeys across multiple airlines, citing its real time bag tracker. IBM’s Dee Waddell urged airlines to connect the dots between business to consumer and business to employee experiences, ensuring value is delivered across the chain. Finally, Bastian Schütz from Meta pointed to the potential of VR and immersive technologies to reshape the customer journey, from planning to inflight entertainment.
Virtual reality and the future of the customer journey
Conversations on VR and AI explored how immersive technologies are set to transform aviation experience. Meta’s Schütz argued that VR and smart glasses could one day replace mobile devices. Narain also shared how Indigo’s virtual chatbot has evolved into a booking tool and revenue channel. Lufinha highlighted TAP’s its “One Order” transformation programme, aiming to simplify booking into a retail like experience, and also its WhatsApp concierge service that blends AI with human agents to deliver personalised support at scale. Waddell pointed to VR’s potential in training, ATC operations and cabin design.
Reinventing flight distribution
In a session on distribution, Stephane Pingaud from DerbySoft and Siew Lee Tan from AirAsia Group explored how APIs and AI are reshaping airline sales. AirAsia’s adoption of API systems has already driven market share growth. And transparency is critical, with ancillaries making up 20% of LCC revenue. The two leaders conveyed that future distribution systems must be customer focused, data driven and flexible, with the ability to upgrade rapidly. AirAsia sees AI and super apps as the next distribution frontier, building ecosystems that go beyond flights to include wider travel services.
The Vueling model: opportunities and challenges
Carolina Martinoli, CEO of Vueling, highlighted the operational pressures facing European carriers, from ATC delays to constrained airports and weather disruption.
She stressed that the way airlines manage disruption will increasingly differentiate them. As part of IAG, Vueling also benefits from group synergies while maintaining a distinct market focus, including connections with Level from Barcelona.
Martinoli also announced a landmark fleet renewal, with 50 Boeing aircraft (plus options) ordered to replace Vueling’s Airbus fleet from 2026. She noted that the order will give the airline flexibility to switch between 8 and 10 model variants.
The evolution of low-cost carriers
CEOs from Vueling, flyadeal and TravelX debated the future of the low-cost model. TravelX’s CEO Juan Pablo Lafosse highlighted the untapped potential of post booking revenue, enabling continuous bookings and ancillary bundling. While Martinoli pointed to narrowing booking windows and the need for agile capacity management, while stressing that the market self regulates, and if something airlines do doesn’t make sense, customers will go elsewhere. flyadeal’s Steven Greenway also underlined the perishable nature of airline inventory and the need to maximise yield, while noting that after 13 years, NDC is still not fully implemented. All agreed that AI and predictive capabilities will transform revenue management, with conversational interfaces becoming standard.
On the success of this year’s event, Daniel Boyle, General Manager of Transport at WAF organiser Terrapinn, said: “This year’s World Aviation Festival has truly surpassed our expectations. The calibre of speakers, the depth of discussion, and the energy across the event reflected the transformation and innovation shaping aviation today. We are proud to have brought together leaders from across the globe to share insights and forge connections. As we look to next year, delegates can expect even more world-class speakers, bold conversations, and a stronger focus on the technologies and strategies that will define the future of air travel.”
For details on this year’s speaker line up, visit: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/aviation-festival/speakers.stm