Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - How AWS is helping the travel industry fly into the future (TRV202)

Summary

Claire Ward, the technology leader for the travel and hospitality solutions worldwide industry practice, introduces the session.
Guest speakers include David Thompson, CTO of American Express Global Business Travel, and Sam Charmond, CIO of Qantas Airways.
Both speakers discuss how their companies have been innovating in the travel industry for over a century and how they leverage AWS for scale, flexibility, global reach, and cost optimization.
David Thompson shares American Express Global Business Travel's journey of investing over a billion dollars in their travel platform and migrating over 250 applications to AWS.
Sam Charmond recounts Qantas's innovation history and their recent aggressive cloud migration strategy, which was accelerated despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both companies emphasize the importance of AWS in their digital transformation, focusing on customer experience, operational efficiency, and sustainability.
The session concludes with an invitation to learn more about AWS's travel and hospitality solutions and to provide feedback on the session.

Legacy systems and specialized systems are significant challenges in the travel industry, with modernization being a top area of investment.
Cybersecurity and system outages are often linked to legacy systems, highlighting the need for modern infrastructure.
AWS's global infrastructure and services like Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Amazon RDS, and Amazon MSK are critical in enabling companies like American Express Global Business Travel and Qantas to scale and innovate.
Data sovereignty and privacy are crucial for global travel companies, and AWS's infrastructure supports these requirements.
The travel industry is increasingly focusing on sustainability, with AWS enabling companies to track and report on carbon impact and offer greener travel options.
Rapid integration of new technologies and acquisitions is a priority for travel companies, and AWS's capabilities facilitate this process.
The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation in the travel industry, with companies like Qantas completing significant cloud migrations within a short timeframe.
AWS's long-term partnership and understanding of the travel industry's complex business problems have been instrumental in the successful digital transformation of these companies.