Executives also said they are prioritizing reliability, customer experience, and overall financial health.
American and Delta aircraft in Los Angeles (Photo: Shutterstock)
Airline CEOs are focusing less on pandemics and pilot shortages and more on big-picture macroeconomic trends, geopolitical instability, and efficient, resilient operations, according to a recent survey and report from Deloitte.
The professional services company spoke with 32 airline executives from around the world to get an idea of where the sector is moving as it emerges fully from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusts to higher costs, and accommodates surging demand. Increasingly, industry leaders said they are concentrating on things they can control, like cost structures, operational reliability, and network performance, while keeping a watchful eye on things they can’t, like broader market fluctuations and international conflicts.
Asked to rate their top three risk concerns, half of the CEOs surveyed picked “economic and market conditions,” followed by “geopolitical instability” (47%), “supply chain disruptions” (40%), “regulatory challenges” (33%), and “inflation and cost pressure” (30%). Notably, fuel prices and workforce shortages – major concerns in years past – were some way down the list, at 13% each.
Technology disruptions came in at 7%, while pandemics scored only 3%.
“Airlines are focused more on the macro forces at play as opposed to the micro items,” Deloitte global aviation leader Bryan Terry told AirlineGeeks. “For example, they really recognize uncertainty in the marketplace, the geopolitical tensions in the world and being able to respond to those, and those are rising to the fore compared to, say, pilot availability or fuel price volatility. It’s not so much that those decreased in importance, but we saw a leapfrogging to top of mind for some of these macro forces that are driving uncertainty.”
Tariffs have been in the news since early April, when President Donald Trump announced a slew of new import taxes on some of the U.S.’s biggest trading partners, but the respondents did not rate them highly, at only 10%. Terry suggested this may be because airline CEOs see tariffs as one piece of a more complex global dynamic.
“It’s the tariffs, but it’s broader than the tariffs,” he said. “We were actually a little bit surprised that tariffs scored a little bit lower. They view tariffs as part of a bigger picture, looking at market uncertainty. Tariffs impact the supply chain, they also impact passenger demand. I think we also see [the tariffs] going back and forth, and it’s an unsettled environment and it’s still evolving. And I think airlines are looking for a stable playing environment that they can deal with.”
Asked about their top strategic priorities for improvement, the executives listed “operational excellence” (66%), “cost control and financial health” (60%), “customer experience” (53%), and “commercial performance” (47%).
Airline CEOs appear at a press conference for a planned air traffic control overhaul project. (Photo: U.S. Department of Transportation)
Analysts found that, after years of workforce expansion, carriers are “rebalancing toward leaner, more efficient operations” while at the same time focusing on operational excellence and “day-to-day execution.” Reliability, they wrote, has become “non-negotiable.”
“The message is clear based on the survey’s findings: Most CEOs are not chasing perfection — they’re building resilience,” the company’s report read. “The goal isn’t just to avoid delays, but to run smarter, recover faster, and create a more predictable experience in an unpredictable world.”
The CEOs were especially bullish on technology, with 47% naming it the top expected driver for growth in 2025, more than revenue management (44%), operational reliability (38%), and customer experience (34%). Analysts said the executives see “transformative technology” as the key to unlocking value across their businesses, from network planning to customer experience.
For now, the focus is on data analytics rather than artificial intelligence and machine learning. Airlines are sorting out their once-fragemented systems and modernizing their data environments, the report said, driving immediate improvements in efficiency and profitability.
Still, AI has a role to play. The executives see future openings for AI in fields like revenue management and dynamic pricing (80%) and predictive maintenance (60%).
“The thinking is, data analytics today, AI tomorrow,” Terry said.
Technology is also expected to change the customer experience. The respondents said they envision putting more control into the hands of travelers through mobile apps. Over time, they suggested, the cumulative experience of many easy transactions and flights will increase customer loyalty.
“Ultimately, CEOs may not be chasing technology for technology’s sake,” the report said. “They’re investing where it counts, that is, where it improves reliability, sharpens pricing, and helps strengthen the customer relationship.”
Investment in the airline industry’s workforce also emerged as a theme across the executives’ replies.
While worker shortages are no longer the challenge they once were, the respondents said they still want to boost employee engagement and well-being (47%) and optimize staffing levels (40%). These goals go hand in hand with leadership development and succession planning, which over half of the CEOs listed as a top priority.
“You can replicate products, you can buy planes, you can buy seats, but you can’t replicate people,” Terry said.
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