Case USA10: How an Airline Group Mistook App Launches for Enterprise Architecture Transformation
- Sunil Dutt Jha
- Jul 30
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 13
Overview:
In travel and transport, one of the clearest patterns in our diagnostics is confusing front-end innovation with enterprise transformation.
Airline groups launched sleek passenger apps with booking, check-in, and loyalty features, framing them as proof of EA maturity. Yet the backend systems — scheduling, crew management, pricing — remained unaligned, requiring manual reconciliation for many transactions.
P1–P6 Insight Preview: The apps enhanced customer-facing processes (P2) and delivered usable components (P4–P5), but lacked integration into enterprise-level system behavior (P3) or governance (P1). Business operations (P6) and tech operations (P6) still operated in silos, creating friction in end-to-end travel execution.
Role Disconnects:
CEO: “Our passengers have a seamless experience” — until a disruption exposes backend chaos.
CIO: “We’ve modernized our passenger systems” — but the operational core is untouched.
Sales Head: “Our app boosts loyalty engagement” — but loyalty data isn’t aligned with pricing logic.
Chief Enterprise Architect: “We’ve improved the interface, not the enterprise” — structural gaps persist.
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