APEX FTE EMEA 2026: SimpliFlying’s Shashank Nigam Says Agentic AI Will Decide Which Airlines Reach Tomorrow’s Travelers
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SimpliFlying Founder & CEO Shashank Nigam used his keynote session this morning at APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing to forewarn airlines that artificial intelligence (AI) will not merely enhance retailing. Instead, he argued it will determine which carriers reach travelers first, which offers earn attention, and which brands disappear before customers ever open an airline website.
Nigam framed agentic AI as the next decisive distribution shift for aviation. He explained that while the web once forced airlines to build digital storefronts and mobile phones later pushed carriers into the customers’ pockets, AI agents will act as customers themselves: They will search, compare, recommend, explain, and eventually transact on behalf of travelers. Nigam said the creation of this new distribution channel demands sharper product clarity and cleaner commercial architecture.
“When we started talking 10 years ago about the need for airlines to become retailers […] we thought that would be the destination […] It was just preparation for the age of AI.”
– Shashank Nigam, SimpliFlying
“When we started talking 10 years ago about the need for airlines to become retailers and to have offers and orders,” he explained, “we thought that would be the destination. What we realized is that this was just preparation for the age of AI.”
This insight shaped the keynote’s central argument, that airline retailing creates a runway for a world where AI agents will evaluate offers faster than humans and in doing so, will favor products that machines can understand, compare, and explain. Nigam inferred that complex fare rules, disconnected ancillaries, and unclear bundles will create commercial risk in this environment, whereas structured offers, transparent value, and order-based commerce will create opportunity.
APEX Group CEO Dr. Joe Leader reinforced Nigam’s message as a pivotal moment for passenger experience and airline commerce, telling APEX Insights, “Agentic AI will not reward airlines that merely digitized old complexity. It will reward airlines that made travel easier to understand, easier to compare, and easier to love.”
Preparing to Retail via the AI Channel
Nigam suggested that in order to succeed in selling through AI channels, airlines will have to offer more than just strong pricing. Instead, he said, they need to make clear why a fare or product is suited to the traveler.
Why? Because AI will not operate like another display screen or booking path. It will act as an interpreter between traveler intent and airline inventory. A traveler may ask for the least stressful family trip, the most reliable connection, the best premium-economy value, or the strongest loyalty redemption. The AI agent will translate that intent into options.
As such, AI agents will not reward vague fare families or buried benefits. They will need specific information about what each product includes, why it matters, how it improves the journey, and whether the airline can consistently deliver it.
“Today, if you’re an airline, you have to be on that AI channel.”
– Shashank Nigam, SimpliFlying
Content regarding seats, bags, lounge access, priority services, flexibility, loyalty value, airport products, onboard enhancements, and disruption support will need clear definitions and traveler-centered explanations.
AI agents will need to know not just what an airline sells, but what problem each product solves. For example, a flexible fare will need to explain peace of mind. A lounge pass will need to explain time saved and comfort gained. A family bundle will need to explain reduced friction. A premium seat will need to explain rest, productivity, or confidence.
After the keynote, Dr. Leader added, “Passengers will not care which system created the answer,” Dr. Leader declared. “They will care whether the answer respected their time, their budget, their loyalty, and their journey.”
Airline Economics Create Added Urgency
Nigam went on to connect AI retailing to airline economics. One of his slides broke down how airlines make money, showing passenger revenue from economy and business class alongside cargo and ancillary income. Another section of the visual mapped major cost categories, including fuel, crew, airport and navigation fees, aircraft ownership, maintenance, ground services, administration, and profit.
The breakdown made retailing feel less abstract. It showed that airlines operate with thin margins, and small gains in conversion, productivity, servicing, and customer satisfaction can carry major financial impact.
“AI retailing will matter most when it helps airlines serve passengers better while strengthening the economics that make better service sustainable.”
– Dr. Joe Leader, APEX
To emphasize this point, Nigam then moved his presentation onto an “AI Mythbuster” section that challenged a common aviation assumption. He compared the cost of an Airbus A350-1000s fuel consumption compared to the cost of labor in terms of salaries and benefits as a percentage of revenue across US airlines.
The chart showed that labor costs accounted for between 25 and 45 percent of an airlines’ total revenue, highlighting that any efficiency gains in service design, decision support, and airline cost structure will greatly benefit the industry.
“AI retailing will matter most,” Dr. Leader added after the keynote, “when it helps airlines serve passengers better while strengthening the economics that make better service sustainable.”
Travelers Will Bring Their Own Agents
Nigam sharpened the future-facing nature of the keynote by focusing on the word “agents.” For decades, airline distribution revolved around travel agents, airline agents, and customer-service agents. Now, AI agents are entering the ecosystem with the ability to act for travelers across multiple categories.
A traveler’s AI assistant could work across flights, hotels, car rentals, restaurants, activities, payment, loyalty, and airport services. This shift will move travel shopping from search results toward orchestration.
Nigam’s final image made that idea tangible. A slide titled “In an Agent-to-Agent future… Welcome Grogu!” placed a consumer AI agent at the center of a travel network. Around it sat flight agents, hotel agents, car rental agents, restaurant agents, and activities agents. Airline brands appeared within a broader ecosystem of travel providers.
In that world, the traveler no longer searches alone. The traveler’s AI agent conducts the search, interprets options, negotiates tradeoffs, and assembles a journey. He asserted that airlines will need to prepare their products for that environment now.
Adoption Will Move Unevenly, Then Quickly
Nigam emphasized that AI-assisted travel search will not spread at one uniform speed. Inside the keynote room, he cited a live audience response showing that more than 90 percent of attendees had used AI for travel search. This figure was at odds with broader consumer adoption in markets such as France, Germany, and the UK, which remain closer to 20 percent based on existing third-party data.
This uneven rate of adoption creates a narrow window for airline preparation. Carriers may feel tempted to wait until mainstream adoption accelerates, yet Nigam advised that early behavior can shape AI results, train customer expectations, and determine which content sources AI systems trust. Airlines that delay may discover that AI agents already prefer clearer offers from competitors, aggregators, or intermediaries.
Nigam also pointed out that airline content often already flows through aggregation companies, meaning AI agents may find airline products through third-party data pathways, wherein airlines have not shaped the surrounding experience.
“The content is available from the content aggregation companies,” Nigam stated, “that already have all that content.”
This presents a strategic challenge: Airlines must decide whether they will let others explain their value or whether they will supply rich, structured, accurate content that AI agents can use with confidence.
Complexity is Now the Enemy
Nigam’s keynote ultimately turned agentic AI into a directive for airline leaders to design retailing for a future where travelers delegate more of the search process to intelligent systems. To thrive in the AI era, they must simplify offers, structure their data, clarify the value and compete on intent.
He concluded that offers and orders are more than just modernization tools. They form the commercial language that AI agents will use to understand airline products. Airlines that master that language will influence tomorrow’s recommendations. Airlines that ignore it may lose visibility before price, schedule, or brand can make their case.
“Today, if you’re an airline,” Nigam urged, “you have to be on that AI channel.”