Air New Zealand
Strategy — Four Whys
Air New Zealand — Four Whys Strategy
Last Updated: 2026-05-14
Urgency: HIGH — 5-year TCS transformation across 600+ applications + $40M net loss creating revenue pressure + 68% digital revenue share with CEO analytics mandate + AI personalisation deployed without validation
Status: CMO Approved
Why 1: Why Do Anything?
Business Imperative: PROTECT 68% DIGITAL REVENUE SHARE DURING A 600-APPLICATION TRANSFORMATION WHILE PROVING AI PERSONALISATION INVESTMENTS ACTUALLY CONVERT
Air New Zealand is a ~$2B NZD revenue carrier with 3M monthly visitors, 10,000 employees, and a custom booking platform. 68% of total revenue flows through digital channels — one of the highest digital revenue shares in global aviation. The airline has partnered with TCS for a 5-year digital transformation spanning 600+ applications while simultaneously deploying AI-powered dynamic bundling and personalised offers across web and app. Yet H1 FY2026 delivered a $40M net loss due to fleet constraints and rising costs.
Pain Dimensions:
68% Digital Revenue = $1.36B NZD Flowing Through Digital Channels: At 68% digital share, Air New Zealand's digital channels generate more revenue than many airlines' total operations. A 0.5% friction rate on 3M monthly visitors = 15,000 degraded sessions per month. At airline booking AOVs, conservative estimate: $20-40M NZD annually in invisible digital friction.
600-Application Transformation Without Experience Monitoring: TCS is overhauling 600+ applications over 5 years. Each application change risks degrading the customer-facing experience. Without session-level analytics, Air New Zealand cannot isolate which TCS changes improve and which degrade the booking experience. Migration-induced friction compounds across 3M monthly visits.
AI Personalisation Deployed Without Validation: AI-powered dynamic bundling and personalised offers are live across web and app. These are complex personalisation engines creating unique journeys per user. Without session-level measurement: Does the AI bundle suggestion improve conversion or confuse users? Does the personalised price increase bookings or increase abandonment? Air New Zealand is investing in AI and hoping — not measuring.
$40M Net Loss Demands Revenue Maximisation: Fleet constraints (Boeing delivery delays, engine availability) mean fewer seats. Every seat must be maximally monetised through digital channels. At $40M loss, undetected booking friction is not a minor optimisation opportunity — it is directly impacting the P&L recovery path.
Digital Identity / Biometric Innovation Without Conversion Measurement: The app trial of passport-free biometric verification signals that the mobile app is becoming the single customer interface. Mobile experience quality is mission-critical and increasingly complex.
Quantified Cost of Inaction: At $2B NZD revenue with 68% digital share and 3M monthly visitors, conservative 0.5% booking friction = $6.8M NZD annually. During a 600-application transformation with simultaneous AI deployment, friction rates are elevated. Conservative estimate: $10-15M NZD annually during the transformation period.
Why 2: Why Now?
Compelling Events (stacked — 5 simultaneous triggers):
TCS transformation actively underway — 600+ applications over 5 years: The transformation started in 2025. The first 12-18 months are highest-risk for experience degradation. The monitoring layer must be in place during transformation, not after it concludes.
$40M net loss — every booking matters: Financial pressure elevates the urgency of booking friction. Revenue recovery through digital optimisation is faster and cheaper than fleet expansion.
AI personalisation live without validation: Dynamic bundling and personalised offers are deployed. Without measurement, the investment ROI is unknown. QM proves (or disproves) the AI investment within weeks.
CEO Nikhil Ravishankar (former CDO, Oct 2025) — digital-native CEO: Ravishankar was promoted from CDO to CEO, replacing Greg Foran. A CEO who previously owned the digital transformation is the strongest possible internal champion for QM. The analytics mandate now comes from someone who deeply understands the tooling.
68% and growing digital revenue share: Digital is not supplementary — it IS the business. The trajectory means digital experience quality directly determines airline performance.
Cost of Delay: Each month without session-level measurement during the TCS transformation = ~250K sessions unmeasured per month. AI personalisation experiments run without revenue validation. The $40M loss cannot absorb the additional drag of unmeasured digital friction.
Why 3: Why Us (Quantum Metric)?
Capability-to-Need Mapping:
| Air NZ Need | QM Capability | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor 600-app TCS transformation impact | 100% session capture + revenue quantification | "TCS change #247 degraded booking conversion by 1.8% = $X NZD/month" |
| Validate AI personalisation ROI | Session-level before/after measurement | "Dynamic bundling increased ancillary revenue by 12%" or "Personalised pricing increased abandonment by 8%" |
| Protect $1.36B NZD digital revenue | Full-stack visibility across web + app | See and quantify every friction point across 3M monthly visits |
| AI-powered investigation at scale | Felix AI autonomous investigation | Autonomous friction detection across 3M monthly visits — replaces manual analysis |
| Mobile app experience measurement | Lightweight mobile SDK | Session-level analytics for biometric, booking, and ancillary flows in app |
| Deploy on custom platform without engineering sprints | Tag-based deployment | Live across Air NZ's custom stack in days |
Proof Points:
| Proof Point | Relevance | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | European airline, booking funnel optimisation | Direct revenue recovery |
| Canadian Tire | Major platform transformation + digital optimisation | +40% conversion in targeted segments |
| Lululemon | Enterprise deployment, high-volume digital commerce | Multi-tens of millions recovered |
| Vista | Mobile booking optimisation | +10% conversion |
Competitive Position: Contentsquare and Adobe Analytics are the likely competitive threats. QM differentiator: patented revenue quantification (neither competitor has this) + Felix AI autonomous investigation + proven airline reference (Aer Lingus).
Why 4: Why This Engagement Model?
Recommended Approach: CDO/CTO engagement via TCS transformation risk + AI validation framing.
Entry Point: Jeremy Scott, Chief Customer and Digital Officer (appointed Oct 2025) — TCS partnership and digital transformation owner. Frame: "68% of your revenue is digital. TCS is changing 600 applications over 5 years. QM is the monitoring layer that ensures those changes improve conversion — and proves whether your AI personalisation investment is paying off."
Secondary: Nikhil Ravishankar, CEO (Oct 2025, promoted from CDO — deep digital fluency). Head of eCommerce — AI personalisation and conversion accountability.
Value Demonstration: Rapid proof-of-value measuring AI dynamic bundling impact on conversion. Within days of deployment, prove whether bundles improve or degrade booking revenue — answering a question Air NZ currently cannot answer.
Anchor Reference: Aer Lingus + Canadian Tire (airline reference + major transformation parallel).
Deal Structure: Enterprise SaaS, annual contract. Pilot on AI personalisation measurement, expand to full TCS transformation monitoring.
Outreach
Air New Zealand — Jeremy Scott (Chief Customer and Digital Officer)
5-Touch Email Sequence + LinkedIn Connection
Date: 2026-05-15
Priority Rank: 6 of 7 (aviation brands)
Signal Stack: L2 (TCS 5-year transformation — 600+ applications) + L2 ($40M net loss — revenue maximisation pressure) + L2 (68% digital revenue share — $1.36B NZD through digital) + L2 (AI personalisation deployed without validation) + L2 (CEO Ravishankar promoted from CDO — digital-native analytics mandate)
Entry Strategy: Cold LinkedIn + email — TCS transformation risk + AI validation + financial pressure creates a stacked opening
Proof Point: Aer Lingus (European airline, booking funnel optimisation, direct revenue recovery), Canadian Tire (major platform transformation + digital optimisation, +40% conversion in targeted segments)
Warm Route: None confirmed. TCS partnership channel and airline industry connections being explored separately.
LinkedIn Connection Request
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-10-01 appointed Chief Customer and Digital Officer, 2025-03-01 TCS 5-year digital transformation partnership]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 0
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCDO — owns TCS partnership and digital transformation, Ring 2: 600+ application overhaul across 5 years]
Jeremy — leading a 600-application digital transformation while protecting $1.36B in digital revenue is one of the highest-stakes digital mandates in aviation right now. Would be great to connect.
LinkedIn Follow-Up 1
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-03-01 TCS 600+ application transformation, 2026-01-01 AI personalisation deployed]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 0.1
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: TCS transformation without experience monitoring, Ring 4: AI personalisation live without revenue validation]
Jeremy — thanks for connecting. One pattern from airlines mid-transformation: each application change risks degrading the booking experience, but existing analytics show page-level drop-off — not session-level diagnosis. You can see THAT conversion fell after a release but not WHY individual sessions failed. Air NZ is also running AI personalisation on top of that transformation — two simultaneous sources of experience change, both unmeasured at session level. If monitoring transformation impact is something your team is focused on, happy to share what airlines are finding at that layer.
LinkedIn Follow-Up 2
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 AI dynamic bundling deployed, 2025-12-01 68% digital revenue share]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 0.2
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: AI personalisation without conversion measurement, Ring 4: $1.36B NZD digital revenue at risk of unmeasured friction]
Jeremy — one more thought on the AI personalisation deployment. Dynamic bundling and personalised offers create unique journeys per user. The question that matters: does the AI bundle suggestion improve conversion or confuse users? Does the personalised price increase bookings or increase abandonment? Without session-level revenue measurement, each AI experiment is running but not validated. At 68% digital share, that's $1.36B flowing through journeys that are being personalised but not measured. Happy to share the pattern if useful.
Touch 1 — Email (GIVE only, <100 words)
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-03-01 TCS 600+ application transformation, 2026-02-01 $40M net loss H1 FY2026]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 1
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCDO — owns the TCS partnership, Ring 2: 600+ app changes without experience monitoring on $40M loss backdrop]
Subject: 600 application changes, unmeasured experience impact
Jeremy,
TCS is overhauling 600+ applications for Air New Zealand over five years. Each change touches the digital experience that generates 68% of your revenue — $1.36B NZD through digital channels.
The transformation started in 2025. The first 12-18 months are highest-risk for experience degradation. But existing analytics show page-level metrics, not session-level diagnosis. You can see conversion shifted after a release. You cannot see which specific change caused it, which sessions were affected, or what the revenue impact was.
At $40M net loss, undetected booking friction during transformation isn't a minor optimisation gap — it's directly impacting the recovery path.
Touch 2 — Email (GIVE only, different angle, <75 words)
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 AI dynamic bundling deployed, 2025-12-01 68% digital revenue share]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 2
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: AI personalisation deployed without validation, Ring 4: investment ROI unknown]
Subject: Re: 600 application changes, unmeasured experience impact
Jeremy,
Different angle — Air NZ has deployed AI-powered dynamic bundling and personalised offers across web and app. These are complex personalisation engines creating unique journeys per user.
The question nobody can answer today: does the AI bundle increase ancillary revenue by 12%, or does it increase abandonment by 8%? Without session-level revenue measurement, Air NZ is investing in AI personalisation and hoping — not measuring.
Proving AI ROI within weeks of deployment is possible. The measurement layer is what's missing.
Touch 3 — Email (GIVE + proof point, <75 words)
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-03-01 TCS transformation, 2026-01-01 40% conversion Canadian Tire parallel]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 3
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: major platform transformation parallel, Ring 3: Canadian Tire + Aer Lingus proof points]
Subject: What airlines and retailers found mid-transformation
Jeremy,
Aer Lingus — European airline, similar booking flow complexity — deployed session-level revenue quantification during their platform evolution. They identified specific friction points invisible to existing analytics and recovered direct booking revenue.
Canadian Tire ran a major digital platform transformation comparable in scope. Session-level measurement identified conversion opportunities that delivered +40% improvement in targeted segments.
Air NZ has the same diagnostic gap during TCS transformation. The same recovery opportunity exists.
Touch 4 — Email (soft meeting ask, <75 words)
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-03-01 TCS transformation, 2026-02-01 $40M net loss]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 4
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCDO — transformation and digital revenue owner, Ring 2: financial pressure + transformation risk converging]
Subject: 20 minutes on transformation monitoring
Jeremy,
Three converging pressures: a 600-application transformation in its highest-risk phase, AI personalisation deployed without revenue validation, and a $40M net loss demanding digital revenue maximisation.
Would 20 minutes be useful to compare notes on how airlines are monitoring experience quality during major platform transformations? I can share the Aer Lingus pattern and what it means for high-digital-share carriers specifically.
If the timing doesn't work, completely understand.
Touch 5 — Email (GIVE only, graceful close, <75 words)
contact: Jeremy Scott
brand: Air New Zealand
signal_refs: [2025-03-01 TCS transformation, 2026-01-01 AI personalisation, 2025-12-01 68% digital share]
signal_levels: [L2, L2, L2]
touch_number: 5
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: CCDO]
Subject: Still relevant, Jeremy?
Jeremy,
Over the past weeks I've shared perspectives on monitoring the TCS transformation's impact on booking conversion, validating AI personalisation ROI at session level, and what Aer Lingus and Canadian Tire found during their platform evolutions.
Is experience measurement during the transformation on your digital roadmap right now, or is the timing off?
Either answer is genuinely helpful.