"British Airways' chief executive has warned that the airline industry is fast heading for a future where AI agents, not humans, decide which brands get booked - and carriers that fail to adapt are at risk of quietly disappearing from the digital shop window. Speaking at Globant's Converge 2025 event in London this week, BA boss Sean Doyle painted a picture of an airline business colliding head-on with agentic AI, as automated systems begin mediating everything from travel searches to complaints handling."
"The days when a decent website and a prominent Google result were enough to stay visible are "diminishing quickly," he said, with bots and AI agents now poised to sit between customers and the brands competing for their money. That shift poses an existential branding challenge for airlines, hotels, and other travel firms whose products are selected less by people browsing and more by machines optimizing outcomes on their behalf, according to Doyle."
The airline industry is moving toward a future in which AI agents mediate travel searches, complaints handling, and brand selection, reducing the impact of traditional websites and search prominence. Bots and software may become default gatekeepers, creating an existential branding challenge for airlines, hotels, and other travel firms as machines increasingly optimize outcomes on customers' behalf. Post-pandemic demand shows leisure travel surging while business travel lags, giving carriers room to rethink operations. British Airways is undertaking a long-overdue digital overhaul, viewing modernization as a leapfrog opportunity rather than a simple catch-up.
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