Adobe and Air India: Partnering for a Technology-First Transformation

Mint

2 days ago

Digital transformation is frequently discussed as a buzzword. For Air India, however, it is a pressing, holistic, systemic realisation. As part of the Tata Group, Air India is undergoing a monumental enterprise-wide reinvention across every process, platform, and person in the organisation. Central to this bold approach is Adobe, facilitating Air India to leapfrog old legacy constraints and become a data-driven, experience-first airline.
In a fireside chat at Adobe SUMMIT India 2025, Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Air India, spoke with Prativa Mohapatra, Vice President and Managing Director of Adobe India, about how the transformation encompasses systems, scale, and human experience — and why Adobe's integrated approach has been pivotal in enabling this evolution.
'We had to change practically every single aspect of the airline,' Dr. Ramaswamy noted. With underinvestment having accumulated over decades, Air India's transformation had to start from zero and move fast. Four pillars now define the foundation:
The single most important driver of the transformation is customer experience, and it spans three key arenas: On the ground (contact centres, airport touchpoints)
(contact centres, airport touchpoints) In the air (onboard services, crew engagement)
(onboard services, crew engagement) In cyberspace (digital channels including mobile, web, in-flight, chatbot, and APIs)
Air India's six core customer-facing digital channels—its mobile app, website, notifications, AI.g chatbot, third-party APIs, and in-flight entertainment system—have all been overhauled. These are now tightly integrated into a seamless experience, largely enabled by Adobe's Experience Cloud suite.
Air India has simplified their booking, check-in, departure, and inflight experience by integrating key Adobe Experience Cloud solutions with their own platforms. By utilizing Adobe solutions, Air India can ultimately provide just-in-time notifications and promotion across multiple channels, and they are constantly optimizing based on insights from Adobe Analytics.
By integrating Adobe Experience Cloud with its existing platforms, Air India has enhanced key customer touchpoints, from booking and check-in to departure and onboard engagement. Just-in-time notifications and contextual promotions are now delivered across channels, continually refined using insights from Adobe Analytics. The airline has deployed AEM's headless capabilities for consistent content delivery across mobile and web; introduced over 20 user-centric features via Adobe Target; and used RT-CDP to unify customer interactions across devices and sources. Adobe Campaign further enables precise audience segmentation, while dynamic media ensures fast, high-quality content rendering.
2. Operational Excellence
'An airline is a moving business. Aircrafts, crew, customers—all shift every hour,' Dr. Ramaswamy said. Achieving operational efficiency requires precise, real-time coordination across: Crew and aircraft scheduling
Flight planning and route optimisation
Engineering and maintenance operations
Air India's OTP (On-Time Performance) has become a core KPI that blends customer satisfaction with logistical execution. Adobe's analytics and integration tools play a key role in keeping systems and decisions aligned with dynamic, real-world conditions.
To attract and retain top aviation talent, Air India invested heavily in employee empowerment tools.
'Our flying staff don't come to a central office. So, we had to create a digital headquarters in their pocket,' said Dr. Ramaswamy.
4. Commercial Performance
Beyond experience, the transformation is also driving revenue.
'We want to maximise yield and increase our share of direct channel bookings,' he said. Selling through direct channels like the app or website incurs less cost than third-party systems, and Adobe's capabilities across content, campaign, and journey optimisation are central to this strategy.
A recent feature—eZ Booking—lets users type natural language commands like 'Book me a ticket from Mumbai to Delhi tomorrow, return next Wednesday,' and get results instantly, reducing friction in the booking process.
In May 2023, Air India launched AI.g—the first generative AI chatbot in the global airline industry.
AI.g has since handled over 10 million customer queries with a containment rate of 97%—dramatically outperforming the industry average of 70% for legacy bots.
Older bots needed extensive manual training to recognise every possible user query. AI.g, by contrast, reads context from structured documents. For instance, if a customer types, 'Can I bring my labrador on board?', AI.g understands the intent and refers to the airline's pet policy—responding in a conversational, helpful manner that adjusts for the breed's size, weight restrictions, and cargo requirements.
'This tool saves millions of dollars each year,' said Dr. Ramaswamy. 'And more importantly, it improves the experience.'
While GenAI has revolutionised customer support, agentic AI is redefining how decisions get made and work gets done.
Unlike traditional systems that require API connections or robotic process automation (RPA), agentic systems can interface directly with people, sending emails, interpreting responses, and autonomously completing tasks.
A standout use case is refund processing for downgraded tickets. Previously handled manually and taking up to four weeks, this process is now almost fully automated for category of such cases using agentic AI. The system evaluates cases, proposes actions, and requires only final human validation, reducing refund cycles to one day.
Agentic AI also brings powerful reasoning capabilities. It can explain its decisions step-by-step: identifying the customer's issue, mapping it to policy categories, applying rules, and justifying the response. This kind of logic-based transparency builds trust internally and externally.
'Marketing has always been a guessing game,' said Dr. Ramaswamy. 'With agentic AI, we stop guessing.'
Air India is now developing customer-specific AI agents that function as digital twins—learning preferences, habits, and purchase patterns over time. Auto check-in passengers
Flag delay-based rebookings
Suggest hyper-relevant deals
Approve marketing messages on behalf of the user
'Your AI agent knows what kind of fare you're looking for, when you want to travel, and what matters to you. So instead of us targeting you directly, we market to your agent. If it trusts the offer, it passes it on.'
This approach transforms word-of-mouth into digital word-of-agent—a more trusted, accurate, and effective marketing channel.
This transformation has been driven by close coordination across Adobe teams—Ultimate Success, Consulting Services, Solution Consulting, and Account Executives—all aligned with Air India's business goals and committed to delivering measurable outcomes.
Adobe has been deeply embedded in Air India's journey from day one. 'They don't just deliver tools—they're passionate about our success,' said Dr. Ramaswamy.
From Experience Manager to Campaign, Journey Optimiser, Analytics, and the Real-Time Customer Data Platform, Adobe provides a unified digital infrastructure that connects every piece of Air India's transformation puzzle.
'Shantanu Narayen, Anil Chakravarthy, and the entire Adobe leadership have been backing us. We work like one team, one mission.'
This shared vision was globally recognised when Air India was honoured as the 2025 Adobe Experience Maker of the Year, a first for any Indian airline, and a testament to what bold ambition and deep collaboration can achieve.
With 140+ systems rebuilt in under two years, new digital channels deployed, a first-of-its-kind GenAI chatbot in production, and the early implementation of agentic AI, Air India is not just transforming—it is setting a new global standard.
Adobe's technology and co-innovation model has enabled this unprecedented pace and precision.
And the result? A smarter airline. A more responsive experience. And a blueprint for what enterprise transformation truly looks like when tech, leadership, and purpose are aligned.
This fireside chat between Dr. Satya Ramaswamy and Prativa Mohapatra was part of Adobe SUMMIT India 2025, where India's boldest digital transformation stories came to life on stage.
Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times.