OpenAI is the company behind ChatGPT, which is widely used by Australians – Australia is a top 10 market in terms of ChatGPT subscribers.
Virgin Australia is looking at how customers could book flights within ChatGPT itself, by building an app within the platform. This would allow customers to describe their trip in ChatGPT and be served up Virgin Australia flight options.
The airline has recently launched an AI trip planner which takes the form of a chatbot.
Virgin is also bringing in enterprise AI tools for its staff. These tools are being used to forecast demand and for dynamic airfare pricing.
“We’re laser focused on making the travel journey more wonderful and that starts with the planning and flight search experience,” said Virgin Australia CEO, Dave Emerson.
“We are excited to be the first Australian airline to collaborate with OpenAI as we accelerate new customer experiences and capabilities for our team members.”
“By being present where our customers already are, such as ChatGPT, we’re making it easier and more convenient to connect with Virgin Australia.
“We’ve been applying advanced analytics and AI across various parts of our business for many years, and this collaboration with OpenAI marks an important step forward in the next stage of our digital transformation.
“In true Virgin Australia challenger spirit, we’re bringing innovation to the market that will positively reshape the way Australians travel.”
Virgin Australia may be the first Australian airline to form a partnership with OpenAI, however, on a regional level, Air New Zealand are out in front, announcing a partnership with OpenAI back in July.
As well as using it to deliver better customer service, Air New Zealand is leveraging it for integrated maintenance and operational planning and for operational decision-making.
By the time of its July announcement, the airline had already created more than 1,500 custom GPTs, which are AI assistants.
