American Airlines yesterday announced that Microsoft Azure will be the preferred cloud platform for its airline applications and key workloads. Even though American will continue to use other cloud services, Microsoft will become one of its largest technology partners through this expanded partnership.
“Reliably operating thousands of flights around the world to take customers to hundreds of destinations is critical to American, which is why the airline has chosen Microsoft’s technology to support our applications,” said American Airlines Chief Information Officer Maya Leibman. “With the power of Microsoft Azure, American can innovate and accelerate its technology transformation, giving our team members augmented tools to provide our customers with an enhanced travel experience.”
This partnership involves several experiences, some of them are listed below.
- American and Microsoft will be using AI, machine learning and data analytics to reduce taxi time, saving thousands of gallons of jet fuel per year and giving connecting customers extra time to make their next flights. American’s Azure-based intelligent gating program will provide real-time analysis of data points, including routing and runway information, to automatically assign the nearest available gate to arriving aircraft.
- American and Microsoft have created the ConnectMe app, which team members can access from any mobile device via a Microsoft Power Apps-enabled app in Microsoft Teams. Through this, American has accelerated airplane turn times at gates and connected thousands of frontline team members through a single platform.
- American will migrate and centralize strategic operational workloads including its data warehouse and several legacy applications — in one Operations Hub on Azure, to save cost and improve efficiency.
- Microsoft employees will receive new, enhanced benefits when they choose American or its alliance partners for their business travel.
