INFORMS Aviation Applications Section Webinar Series

Title: The Airline Retailing Revolution and how Revenue Management will lead the way 

 Airlines are on the cusp of modernizing fare shopping to a more "Amazon-like" retailing experience with tailored offers and other means of improving revenues through targeted upsell.   The ticket selling landscape will necessarily get fractured and much more complex in order to fully monetize the opportunity.  This presents a myriad of new challenges for both Airline Revenue Management (RM) departments and the Operations Research (OR) groups and companies that support them.   This presentation will focus on the need for innovative new data sources and models, the changing role of RM in an increasingly AI led "black box" world and the impact highly leveraged OR professionals will have on a vital source of future airline profitability.

Date: March 19th, 2024

Time: 11 am - 12 noon New York time

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Speaker: Dan Muzich, Revenue Management Thought Leader, Former Managing Director at American Airlines; Current consultant with Cactus Consulting Group

Speaker bio: Dan Muzich has nearly two decades of experience in airline Revenue Management (RM), with a focus on Operations Research and RM Systems development. Dan retired from American Airlines in June 2018 as Managing Director of Revenue Management Development and is working with Cactus Consulting Group, a thought leader in Airline RM and Distribution.

Dan’s RM Career began with America West Airlines where he played a key role in the integration of Revenue Management systems through two mergers with US Airways and American Airlines. His responsibilities included the development of large scale RM systems to improve revenue performance through innovative new ways of leveraging data to better adapt to a constantly evolving competitive marketplace. A holder of several RM patents, these advancements in pricing, forecasting/optimization, and ancillary fields have positioned Dan as an expert in these systems and well positioned to help your firm improve it’s bottom line. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

 
 
 

 

PREVIOUS WEBINARS

Title: Opportunities, Challenges and Path Forward for Autonomous Air Mobility

Advanced Air Mobility requires autonomy to scale. During the talk, Arthur will discuss key challenges in developing and certifying autonomous flight technologies for medium and large aircraft. He will present an overview of key systems required in an autonomous aircraft, and outline Xwing’s approach to solving core challenges associated with each. The talk will cover both system design as well as operational aspects.

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Title: How OR and AI can improve the travel experience

Travelling is fun, right? But do you know what goes on behind the scenes to make your trip possible? There are a lot of actors in the travel industry (like travel agencies, airlines, airports, and hotels) that have to make decisions and take actions every second to help you get to your destination and enjoy your stay. These decisions and actions are perfect targets for Operations Research (OR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). They can help understand the needs and optimize the offers better. On one side, travellers want relevant information and recommendations for their travel plans. They want to find the best deals in terms of prices and quality and have a smooth and enjoyable experience during their trip. On the other hand, travel providers such as airlines and travel agencies, want to satisfy passenger expectations in terms of quality of services and at the same time they want to optimize their operations to stay competitive and innovative.

In this webinar we will explore different examples of OR and AI in the travel industry from both perspectives (i.e., passengers and providers) including not only the current application but also the future possibilities that will be enabled by the latest trends on those fields (such as Generative AI).

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Title: The Challenges Towards Truly Sustainable Aviation

INFORMS AAS Talk Series: The Challenges Towards Truly Sustainable Aviation Speaker: Prof. H.G.C. (Henri) Werij, Delft University of Technology Prof. Henri Werij, Dean of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft, will deliver a presentation on the future of aviation and the challenges associated with achieving climate-neutral aviation. He has been an advocate for energy transition in aviation and recognizes that achieving sustainable aviation will require significant efforts from researchers in the field, including operation researchers. During the talk, Prof. Werij will provide an outlook on current technological developments and will show that easy solutions are not available. The quest for climate-neutral aircraft will lead to different approaches for different ranges, while the required amount of sustainable energy is massive. The new generation of aircraft, e.g., relying on hydrogen as an energy carrier, will also pose operational challenges, both on ground and in-flight, that need to be addressed.

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