Soar.AI

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Why Virgin Atlantic went first on ChatGPT and last on NDC

September 8
36 mins

Episode Description

Virgin Atlantic was the first airline to put an app inside ChatGPT. Its chief customer officer tells us what it cost, what it earned and why letting passengers dodge fare rules was part of the deal.

Episode summary

Juha Jaervinen runs everything at Virgin Atlantic that a passenger can see. Brand, marketing, loyalty, communications, the clubhouses and the trip itself all report to him. This episode puts figures on the airline's AI Concierge, built with OpenAI and Tomoro. Five months in, it had handled half a million conversations, sold around £1m of flights and cut handovers from chat to the contact centre by 30%.

He is equally frank about the failures, including a Concierge that taught customers how to dodge fare rules. He explains why Virgin Atlantic chose to lead on customer-facing AI and to trail on NDC and offer-order; how it launched South Korea without a photoshoot; why reducing cabin waste with AI is his next target, and why it's about fuel, not food; and where he would put his own money — a tool that prices seats and cargo together. 


What you will hear

  • The path from web concierge to native app to the first airline app inside ChatGPT, and the two years of integration beneath it — including the distribution advantage that no competitor can replicate
  • The metrics Virgin Atlantic tracks, and the one its customer chief is careful to qualify
  • Why every AI proposal at the airline starts with the passenger's trip rather than the cost line
  • What comes next: onboard retail over Starlink, a clubhouse that knows you are ten minutes away, cultural briefs for crew
  • Why "flashy passenger people" should do a stint in cargo — and the million-dollar blind spot most airlines refuse to see


Notable quotes

"AI is not there to take your jobs away. It actually makes your role as a human more meaningful."

"When you ask our most frequent flyers why they fly with us, they say: because of your people."

About the guest

Juha Jaervinen is Chief Customer Officer at Virgin Atlantic, responsible for the end-to-end customer experience, brand and marketing, loyalty, communications and the airline's clubhouses. He previously held senior commercial roles at Finnair, where his remit covered passenger and cargo revenue and the network. [LinkedIn]


About the hosts

Shashank Nigam is CEO of SimpliFlying, a leading aviation strategy firm with more than 18 years of experience working with 120+ organisations. Soar.AI is our new practice covering how artificial intelligence is being built and deployed across the sector.

Peter Bellew is Founder of Dooks Capital, former CEO of Malaysia Airlines and former Chief Operating Officer of Ryanair and Riyadh Air. Dooks Capital backs early-stage technical founders building AI for airline, airport, and ground operations intelligence.


About the Soar.AI podcast

Soar.AI is the world's first podcast on artificial intelligence in aviation. SimpliFlying brings you in-depth and unfiltered conversations with aviation leaders on how the industry is evaluating, implementing and scaling AI in the real world.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. New episodes of Soar.AI drop every fortnight.


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