IWD 2026: APEX/FTE Celebrate Female Leaders Advancing Passenger Experience Innovation
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, APEX is publishing interviews with female leaders at its member companies who are pushing the envelope when it comes to passenger experience. The conversations will form a week-long series, with one being shared each day. The second installment features Star Alliance VP Customer Experience Ambar Franco. These interviews were initially featured on the Future Travel Experience website.
APEX: Can you share a brief overview of your career journey – and what drew you towards innovation leadership within aviation?
Franco: I’ve spent two decades in travel and hospitality, working at the intersection of customer experience, partnerships and growth. What drew me to Star Alliance was the scale of the opportunity. Aviation is one of the most operationally complex industries in the world, and within an alliance environment, that complexity multiplies. We work across 25 member airlines, different systems, and cultures.
“Leading innovation in aviation means navigating complexity, aligning multiple stakeholders, and driving change within a highly regulated environment.”
Here, it is not about innovating for innovation’s sake. It is about making multi-airline journeys feel effortless for travelers. That challenge of aligning strategy, technology and collaboration on a global scale is what excites me.
APEX: As we approach International Women’s Day, how would you assess the progress the aviation industry has made towards gender equality – particularly in leadership and innovation roles? Where is meaningful progress being made – and where does the industry still need to accelerate change?
Franco: Aviation has made visible progress in leadership representation and in broadening the talent pipeline. The opportunity to accelerate change lies in continuing to expand access to leadership pathways and ensuring that diverse perspectives are actively shaping decision-making. In an industry that serves a global customer base, that diversity of thought directly strengthens innovation and long-term performance.
APEX: From your experience, what unique challenges and opportunities have you encountered as a woman leading innovation in aviation – and how has diversity of perspective influenced innovation outcomes?
Leading innovation in aviation means navigating complexity, aligning multiple stakeholders, and driving change within a highly regulated environment. These dynamics require clarity of vision, resilience, and the ability to build alignment across diverse teams.
Diversity of perspectives is one of the greatest opportunities: Bringing together different viewpoints often uncovers more resilient and practical solutions. In customer experience especially, nuance matters; understanding traveler expectations directly shapes the quality of innovation outcomes.
“Technology is an enabler, not an end in itself. Ultimately, its value lies in how effectively it supports a seamless, consistently delivered experience across the Alliance.”
APEX: How do you foster a culture of innovation within your organization, particularly in a highly regulated and operationally complex industry like aviation?
Franco: Innovation in aviation must be purposeful. We break the customer journey into four pillars – booking, airport, connections, and loyalty – to pinpoint key areas and focus on improvements that deliver measurable impact.
At Star Alliance, over 50 shared standards across member airlines create rhythm and consistency, supported by bi-annual audits. This governance provides the foundation for scalable innovation.
Culture is equally important. Innovation becomes sustainable when teams understand the shared ambition, creating a world that feels effortlessly connected, and when collaboration across member airlines is seen as a strategic advantage.
APEX: What innovation initiatives are you currently leading that are reshaping the passenger journey – whether through digital transformation, operational efficiency, or new technologies and experience concepts?
Franco: Our work focuses on making multi-airline journeys seamless for customers. We’ve expanded free seat selection across more than 93 per cent of our network and paid seat selection across over 55 per cent. For travelers, selecting a seat across multiple carriers feels simple. Behind the scenes, it requires alignment between systems that delivers convenience for customers while also unlocking ancillary revenue for our member airlines.
Additionally, our Star Connection Centres operate at key hubs globally, combining real-time data with on-the-ground coordination to support passengers during tight or disrupted connections. In 2025 alone, over 300,000 passengers benefited, turning moments of uncertainty into reassurance.
Across booking, airport, connections, and loyalty, each initiative brings the interline experience closer to what customers expect from a single airline journey.
“At Star Alliance, over 50 shared standards across member airlines create rhythm and consistency, supported by bi-annual audits. This governance provides the foundation for scalable innovation.”
APEX: How are technologies such as AI, robotics, automation, and the Internet of Things influencing your innovation roadmap – and how do you prioritize investment in emerging technologies?
Franco: Technology is the backbone of the alliance. When we evaluate emerging technologies, we do so through the lens of the customer journey. The question is never “How do we use AI?” but rather “Where can technology remove friction or enhance decision-making?”
A strong example is loyalty recognition across our 25 member airlines. For a traveler, status recognition feels simple. But behind the scenes, this requires real-time validation across multiple systems and member airlines. Our proprietary technology processes millions of tier status checks daily, ensuring benefits such as priority services and lounge access are delivered accurately and securely. In just over a year, more than 167 million validation requests have been processed. This level of precision strengthens customer trust while also reinforcing fraud prevention.
Technology is an enabler, not an end in itself. Ultimately, its value lies in how effectively it supports a seamless, consistently delivered experience across the Alliance.
APEX: What advice would you give to the next generation of women aspiring to leadership roles in aviation and technology?
Franco: Stay curious about adjacent industries like hospitality, technology, retail, because innovation often happens at the intersections. At the same time, invest in developing your adaptability and soft skills. Aviation and technology evolve quickly, and the ability to learn continuously, navigate change and communicate with clarity is just as important as technical capability. Learning should be continuous, regardless of where you are in your career.
And focus on collaboration. Leadership in an alliance environment is about influence, clarity and alignment. The ability to bring different stakeholders together around a shared ambition is one of the most valuable skills you can develop.
To view the rest of the interviews in this week-long series, click here.