Accenture research shows airlines widely adopt AI in customer functions, yet only 12% directly link it to revenue, with most deployments remaining limited pilots.
Publish Time：
2026-02-13 15:08:45
Source：
Travel Daily News
Accenture research shows airlines widely adopt AI in customer functions, yet only 12% directly link it to revenue, with most deployments remaining limited pilots.
A new study by Accenture indicates that while airlines actively discuss and deploy Artificial Intelligence, only 12% directly link AI initiatives to revenue growth.
According to the research, 58% of airlines risk falling behind other consumer industries by treating generative AI as an “add-on” rather than embedding it within an integrated digital framework. Many carriers continue to layer AI tools onto legacy systems, limiting the scale and operational impact of deployments.
Adoption levels are high in customer-facing functions. The study reports that 99% of airlines apply AI in marketing, while 100% use it in e-commerce and customer service and experience. However, just 48% of airline executives describe generative AI as central to their corporate strategy, compared to 100% of leaders in the Consumer Goods and Retail sectors.
The research also highlights differences in deployment maturity. While 44% of airlines state that they have deployed generative AI in key workflows, most initiatives remain limited to between one and five pilots. Only 14% report running between six and ten pilots. In contrast, 99% of Consumer Goods and Retail companies have live deployments, with 48% managing more than ten pilots and 52% running between six and ten proof-of-concepts.
Agentic AI systems, capable of acting autonomously on behalf of businesses or customers, remain at an early stage in aviation. The study found that 61% of airlines have no live agentic AI projects. In comparison, 98% of Consumer Goods and Retail organisations report having between one and five pilots, and 59% operate six to ten proof-of-concepts.
