L AL is Israel’s national airline, boasting
close to 6mn customers a year and
US$2bn in annual revenue. Before joining
EL AL as the airline’s Chief Digital and Information
Officer, Shahar Markovitch was the Chief Digital
Officer of Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel’s largest
banks. Prior to that, he was a partner of the consulting
firm McKinsey & Company, and as such brings
experience of shaping the digital strategy and
leading digital and IT transformations of organisations
all over the world. A little over a year ago, Markovitch
brought this expertise to EL AL to assist in the creation
of a new division that combines IT and digital to drive
the technological transformation of the company.
Markovitch begins by sharing that there are two
key disruptions in the airline industry today. The first
is “the digital airline, which is a combination of both
new business models like the low-cost carrier
model with new open sky regulation.” Secondly, he
adds that “the customer is becoming more digital”,
with access to dozens of options for booking their
flight. Yet Markovitch also says that there is a newE
SHAHAR MARKOVITCH, THE CHIEF DIGITAL
AND INFORMATION OFFICER OF EL AL
ISRAEL AIRLINES, EXPLAINS HOW THE
ADOPTION OF AI AND DATA ANALYTICS
IS STRENGTHENING EL AL AS THE ‘SMART
AIRLINE’ OF THE STARTUP NATION.138
AUGUST 2019EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES