OPINION | Why Airline Disruptions Are Now A Communication Problem, Not An Operations One |
By Ujwal Makhija
For more than a decade, airline communication rested on a predictable formula: send a confirmation email, push a notification, direct travellers to an app, and trust that information would flow smoothly. That model belonged to a slower, more forgiving aviation environment, one where disruptions were occasional, and passengers were content to wait for updates.
Today’s ecosystem is radically different. Flights operate in a tightly interdependent network where weather, congestion, staffing, and aircraft rotations change by the minute. Passengers, meanwhile, expect information at the same speed as the disruption itself. The gap between operational reality and communication capability has become too wide for traditional tools to bridge.
The industry is now entering a phase where communication is being rebuilt from the ground up. This shift is not cosmetic; it reflects a deeper recognition that airlines must converse, not merely broadcast.
A common misconception is that automated communication aims to reduce staffing needs. The airlines leading the transformation view it differently. Automation has become a buffer that absorbs operational shocks in ways human teams simply cannot.
The call centre overload problem
During disruptions, contact centres experience surges that can multiply eight to ten times within minutes. No staffing model, regardless of budget, can scale at that pace. Proactive outbound........