SkyTeam makes an impact at The World Aviation Festival (WAF) 2024
Innovation, gender barriers, sustainability and Artificial Intelligence (AI) were just some of the themes explored by speakers from across our alliance.Industry experts gather in Amsterdam for The World Aviation Festival (WAF) 2024
SkyTeam colleagues and member airlines were out in force at the three-day World Aviation Festival (WAF), including nine speakers who represented our alliance through panel discussions and presentations.
Anko Van der Werff, CEO at SAS, joined SkyTeam CEO Patrick Roux to talk about the importance of our sustainability agenda and sharing ideas and best practice, as well as the benefits and ease of connectivity via SkyTeam’s Digital Spine.
Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam’s Head of Marketing & Sustainability, was joined by Charlotte Lollar from Delta Air Lines, Maryam Telmesani from Saudia Group, Helen Demosthenous from KLM and Janneke van der Graaff from UN Women for a RISE panel that explored the importance of embracing diversity and addressing cultural difference and gender barriers in aviation.
Katerina Sibinovska-Mitikj, SkyTeam’s Chief Information Security Officer, shared how SkyTeam is taking a balanced and cautious approach to AI, acknowledging the benefits of increased productivity and output as well as potential risks such as data protection.
Fabien Pelous, Senior Vice President Customer Experience at Air France, gave a presentation on how airlines and airports can use innovation to create exciting and functional lounge experiences while Paul Zisserman, SkyTeam’s Director Sustainability, and Ann-Sofie Hörlin from SAS explored how global perspectives and collaborative efforts are driving sustainability in the aviation sector.
Laura Abraham, SkyTeam’s Head of Digital & Technology, joined experts including representatives from IBM to discuss responsibility and security in the context of the increasing democratization of Gen AI tools.
Other speakers included William Warbington, SkyTeam’s Director of Strategy Planning Innovation, who spoke about SkyTeam’s perspective on open innovation and cooperation; Barry Ter Voert, KLM’s Chief Experience Officer & EVP Business Development, who described the key differentiators that are strengthening the link between brand and customer experience; SungJoon Park, SkyTeam’s Director of Loyalty, who participated in a lively discussion on the opportunities around gamification; Harry Drok, SkyTeam’s Director of Product Support & Development, who focused on building smart, sustainable and customer-centric airports for the future; Corneel Koster, Chief Customer & Operating Officer at Virgin Atlantic, who shared his passion about equality and the ‘superpower’ of diversity, and Sven van Hamelsveld, SkyTeam’s Director of IT Operations, who discussed AI-powered data analysis and the merits of waiting until open tools available on the market are proven and achieve a certain level of maturity.