EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES
SHAHAR MARKOVITCH , THE CHIEF DIGITAL AND INFORMATION OFFICER OF EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES , EXPLAINS HOW THE ADOPTION OF AI AND DATA ANALYTICS IS STRENGTHENING EL AL AS THE ‘ SMART AIRLINE ’ OF THE STARTUP NATION
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L AL is Israel ’ s national airline , boasting close to 6mn customers a year and US $ 2bn in annual revenue . Before joining EL AL as the airline ’ s Chief Digital and Information Officer , Shahar Markovitch was the Chief Digital Officer of Bank Hapoalim , one of Israel ’ s largest banks . Prior to that he was a partner of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company , and as such brings experience of shaping the digital strategy and leading digital and IT transformations of organisations all over the world . A little over a year ago , Markovitch brought this expertise to EL AL to assist in the creation of a new division that combines IT and digital to drive the technological transformation of the company .
Markovitch begins by sharing that there are two key disruptions in the airline industry today . The first is “ the digital airline , which is a combination of both new business models like the low-cost carrier model with new open sky regulation .” Secondly , he adds that “ the customer is becoming more digital ” with access to dozens of options for booking their flight . Yet Markovitch also says that there is a new
AUGUST 2019