Virgin Australia checks if AI-powered personalisation will fly with customers

Virgin Australia is using modules of the SabreMosaic platform to send “ancillary offers” to travellers before they fly, with the aim of bringing in extra revenue.

Image credit: Virgin Australia/Sabre.

Flyers will have noticed the emailed offers in recent months, which technology vendor Sabre said make use of an AI-augmented modular platform it unveiled earlier this year.

Virgin Australia is the “flagship customer” for SabreMosaic, with adoption forming part of a “multi-year investment” in retail transformation.

The airline has implemented the offer management suite within SabreMosaic, which is said to include AI-powered products for seat pricing and then upsell - add-ons - once the travel is booked.

The intent is two-fold: “to dynamically optimise airfare offers based on marketplace insights”, and to “present Virgin Australia’s travellers with personalised seat ancillary offers that they are more likely to purchase."

Virgin Australia is set to adopt “more than 40 products across the retailing lifecycle, delivered through a phased approach over the next few years,” according to Sabre.

It will run a hybrid of traditional Sabre technologies and commercial planning products, of which it has been a long-term user, and the newer SabreMosaic platform, which runs on Google Cloud.

Sabre said Virgin Australia had extended its current agreements, including those covering existing IT systems.

“On the airline IT side, Virgin Australia will continue to rely on SabreSonic PSS [passenger service system] and related solutions throughout its journey to an offer and order environment,” the vendor said.

CIO David Hogarth said the addition of SabreMosaic “will, over time, enable us to optimise our offers, enhance guest interactions, and build a competitive advantage in the market.”