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AirAsia - The AirAsia Hackathon
AirAsia - The AirAsia Hackathon
Over the past few years, a number of aviation brands have adopted a popular Silicon Valley trend, that of the ‘Hackathon’ where computer programmers collaboratively work against a clock to deal with a particular problem or challenge.
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The latest airline to get on the bandwagon is AirAsia, which will be staging ‘AIR- VOLUTION 2017’ in Kuala Lumpur from 18-19 March. Twenty teams from the 26 countries served by AirAsia will be competing for a RM 25,000 (c. US $5,600) prize.
Three challenges have been announced for the Hackathon: How can social media fans’ digital footprints be leveraged to improve customer experience, how can waiting times at the airport be reduced and how can the best flights, itineraries and prices be offered to passengers? On the day, one will be chosen and given to the teams to solve.
According to AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, AIRVOLUTION 2017 is part of the airline’s overall mission to make AirAsia more digitally focused:
AirAsia has signed up an impressive group of third party sponsors and partners for the event including Lego, Red- Bull, Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
However out of the ten strong judging panel, eight are internal AirAsia executives with only two coming from the outside (although one represents popular messaging App Line).
Compare this to Malaysia Airlines, which staged its own Hackathon in February where over half the judging panel came from outside, although Malaysia Airlines’ judges are all men, unlike Air Asia which has three women in the group.
The Malaysia Airlines Hackathon was focused on the development of mobile applications, and saw 21 teams take part.
Other airlines which have held Hackathons include Singapore Airlines with its October 2016 ‘App Challenge’, Qantas which held Codeshare Hackathons in 2015 and 2016 and Emirates which has staged ‘Travel Hackathons’ in Singapore, Dubai and the US and is planning on holding another one in Santa Clara, California.
The Emirates Hackthon series in particular is noteworthy as it is underpinned by a partnership with Carnegie-Mellon University in a ‘CMU-Emirates-Silicon Valley Innovation’ Lab.
Key Take-Away
Hackathons are not new, but they can provide both an injection of fresh ideas, and generally deliver good PR value. They are also an effective way for brands to show that they are forward thinking and innovators.
However when doing so, it is worth asking if the Hackathon is a one-hit wonder or whether it is supported by other activity.
Emirates provides a good model as it can now showcase a whole series of events as well as a partnership with a leading academic institution. This gives it both credibility and allows it to develop further brand extensions on the back of what’s already been done.
