Airline Industry Rivals Become Tech Innovation Partners With Shared API Hub

A new application programming interface (API) hub is uniting companies to help their technology take off.

API hub provider Rapid and trade group International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a Wednesday (Jan. 18) press release that the IATA’s new Open AI Hub will boost innovation across the industry.

The travel industry uses APIs to do everything from providing offers to customers to tracking baggage to delivering flight status notifications, IATA Senior Vice President of Financial Settlement and Distribution Services Muhammad Albakri said in the release.

“The true value of this partnership stems from the ability to successfully discover APIs, facilitate connectivity and help build trusted relationships between API providers and API consumers so that they may quickly and efficiently bring new players and applications to the market,” Albakri said.

Airlines have been rolling out digital innovations to improve several aspects of the business.

For example, United Airlines announced a new platform that enables corporate customers to fully customize their business travel program contracts while selecting features like access to loyalty programs, more spacious seats, Wi-Fi and discounts on leisure travel for employees.

Delta Airlines teamed up with American Express to give travelers a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option, noting that two-thirds of Generation Z and millennial travelers would be more likely to take vacations if they knew they could pay for the flights over time.

When Southwest Airlines was coping with its highly publicized troubles and flight cancellations over the holiday season, it created a one-stop dashboard that enabled customers to submit their requests for reimbursements and refunds.

Consumers are adopting digital tools as well. Consumer engagement with digital tools for travel and commuting rose by 3.2% in the third quarter of 2022, according to the PYMNTS report “How the World Does Digital.”

With IATA’s new Open AI Hub, airlines can open up their APIs to exchange data more easily and securely with travel agents, safety regulators, aggregators, solution providers and other partners throughout the air travel ecosystem, according to the press release.

“Access to airline data and API through a streamlined, unified platform will accelerate digital transformation and innovation across the travel industry,” Rapid CEO and Founder Iddo Gino said in the release.