The following describes how Saudia will change from a dated legacy carrier to a cutting-edge, data-driven airline.
The national airline of Saudi Arabia, Saudia, has developed into a multi-industry airline that dominates the domestic market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since taking off for its first flight in 1945 with just one aircraft in the fleet. The airline connects the Kingdom to nearly 90 locations in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America with a fleet of more than 146 aircraft.
Saudia will need to be more imaginative than merely having a modernized fleet, especially since it will need to be one of the faces of the Kingdom for Vision 2030, as numerous airlines are expanding their networks and improving soft products to stay ahead of the fierce competition. An examination of Saudi Arabia’s rapid digital transition
Creating a more contemporary, pleasurable, and individualized flight experience for its passengers is a key component of the airline’s transformational ambition to become a world-beating airline. This calls for upgrading a number of airline end-to-end processes. Saudia has started a massive digital redesign in order to accomplish this.
SAUDIA
Although the airline’s mobile application, SAUDIA, was introduced a number of years ago, many passengers still feel that some of its features are a touch dated. When passengers attempted to log in or access their profiles, SAUDIA would frequently crash and either hang or lag very significantly.
According to Saudia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Arved Von Zur Muehlen, who spoke at the Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore earlier this month, the airline wants to start its digital transformation by focusing heavily on data clouding to enhance the digital processes for passengers given how unfriendly the mobile application appears to be.
Focusing on data clouding will not only resolve the issues now faced by passengers, but it will also enable SAUDIA to give them more operational choices that will improve their flying experiences with Saudia, such as pre-ordering food and interruption recovery for their impacted flights.
Electronic Factory
Building Saudia’s digital factory last year, after selecting King Abdullah Economic City as the new location for numerous departments involved in the digital transformation, was another significant step in the company’s digital transformation. Many new divisions created to fulfill the airline’s expanding digital and technology needs will also call the digital factory home.
Saudi Arabia can profit from the many advantages of the city’s cutting-edge infrastructure by designating King Abdullah Economic City as the new hub for all things digital and technological while also enhancing its overall performance. The new division headquarters, for instance, can accommodate at least 1,000 staff members who are solely responsible for Technology, data analysis, and guest services.
The difficulties Saudia is facing
Saudia still has a long way to go before it can transition from an aging legacy carrier to a flexible, data-driven airline, despite having such ambitious digital goals and easily available technology. One major challenge, in Muehlen’s opinion, was realizing that not all of the airline’s technology could be changed in the way that was desired.
A front-line technology like computers and software systems will be easier to replace and upgrade than an outdated technology like the back-end aviation technologies. The lack of sufficient feedback makes it difficult to determine whether the enhanced inputs are functioning as planned or whether additional changes are necessary.
The legacy airline can leverage digitalization as a competitive advantage against its international rivals and the recently unveiled Riyadh Air, Saudia is still confident given the present status of its digital transformation path. The airline also guarantees that once the change is almost complete, travelers will have a delightful new experience that was worth the wait.
