The Integrated Framework for the Examination of Airline Industry Evolution: Past, Present Analysis and Future Projections

Abstract

In the past, airline distribution process, which was between airline companies and customers, was under the control of intermediaries such as GDSs. After the advancement of internet technology in airline distribution, online players emerged, and airlines established their websites to bypass the intermediaries. Since new technologies have still been emerging to meet the key factors such as customer expectations, technological innovations and technical insufficiency of the intermediaries in distribution industry, the airline distribution will continue to evolve in the next decade. In this study, we aimed to understand how the industry evolved according to the emerged players and developed technologies by utilizing secondary data (relevant literature and industry reports). As a result, we constituted an integrated framework for analyzing the industry in timeline including three phases (past, present, future) and from four aspects (market forces, technology trends, ecosystem players, ecosystem canvas).