Kiwi.com says AI can help flight search firm grow fivefold

The founder and CEO of Kiwi.com says automation can help the flight search firm grow fivefold. Oliver Dlouhy, who says Kiwi is a technology firm rather than a travel company, told Travolution that he expects “everything” to be automated in the future. Speaking at a media event hosted at the SkyGarden at London’s ‘Walkie Talkie’ … Continue reading Kiwi.com says AI can help flight search firm grow fivefold

The founder and CEO of Kiwi.com says automation can help the flight search firm grow fivefold.

Oliver Dlouhy, who says Kiwi is a technology firm rather than a travel company, told Travolution that he expects “everything” to be automated in the future.

Speaking at a media event hosted at the SkyGarden at London’s ‘Walkie Talkie’ building, he said: “We are working very hard on automation. There will always be complex cases that need to be handled by human beings, but within two or three years I can see us getting to a stage where we will be five time more efficient than we are now.”

Eventually, Dlouhy – who started the business in 2012 – said he wants to use automation to help the company grow, but he said the first step is to make do more with less.

“We could have five times more bookings, or the same amount of bookings with five times less people,” he explained.

The firm is also in the process of testing a chat bot which currently has a human behind it helping it learn.

“Most customers prefer it [chat bots] and for us it’s cheaper,” Dlouhy said, adding: “That’s why we are putting a lot of effort into self-service in general.”

And Dlouhy said a recent deal struck with Amadeus would help Kiwi.com grow between three and five times.

The firms say the partnership will help Kiwi deliver 750 million more pre-calculated flight combinations. It currently handles 53 million flight searches per day.

Dlouhy said: “Amadeus will be supplying us with data that we won’t be able to get ourselves. We hope the custom-made solution will be live by the end of the year.”