Airlines in Transition 6: Working with airlines & consumers (and Charlie Sheen?) to enhance revenues

Airline distribution expert Gillian Gibson, formerly of Travelport and Amadeus, led a session on distribution at CAPA's Airlines in Transition conference in Dublin. She closed her presentation with a quote from wild man of Hollywood Charlie Sheen that refers to the power of the mind in overcoming old habits: "the only thing I'm addicted to right now is winning".

The airline industry needs to change its mindset to overcome old habits and to develop technology to enable a more retail-oriented approach to distribution. Ancillary revenues have grown to the point where the very word 'ancillary' looks like a misnomer and yet traditional distribution channels such as GDS have not been able to carry this key revenue stream. Direct channels continue to grow, with mobile phone apps adding to airline.com sites, and yet very few offer an 'end-to-end' booking capability.

Can the industry break its old addictions and find a more integrated winning formula for distribution?