"Google is bad for the airline industry" says CarTrawler. Airlines need vastly better data skills

Bobby Healy, Chief Technology Officer at Dublin based CarTrawler, which offers travel companies a technology platform for ancillary revenue, had a stark warning for airlines at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit on 11-May-2017. "Google is bad for the airline industry." An inventor and entrepreneur specialising in booking engine software, Mr Healy has developed booking solutions that are now in use by 80% of the world's top 20 airlines.

There have always been intermediaries in the airline industry, but the internet has allowed them to have a closer relationship with the consumer. However, until now, intermediation of airline ticket sales has been fragmented and largely complementary to airlines' own direct channels.

Mr Healy's warning was based on Google's increasing exploitation of its monopoly positions in Search, on Android apps, and in digital marketing to intercept consumer searches for branded airline names and to direct them first to its Google Flights product. Regulatory remedies may be necessary, but Mr Healy also advised airlines only to provide Google with their inventories on their own terms, and to act like tech companies with better digital products.