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. In the third installment, we hear from Anuvu EVP Media & Content Estibaliz Asiain, who is also a member of the APEX Board of Directors. 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?
“One challenge has been ensuring that experience-led innovation […] is valued alongside engineering and operations.”
Asiain: My career in aviation started at a young age. After many years in banking, my father started a small CSP business in Spain, which gradually became a vendor for Spanish airlines. I was in IT sales when, due to a change in employer, I had a gap and went to “help” my dad for a couple of weeks. I never joined the new company, because I found aviation so exciting.
The innovation piece came later, when I joined Anuvu. The company had innovation in its DNA through the non-CSP services it delivered, such as connectivity and data analytics. I have been privileged to see how we have innovated on the content delivery side of aviation, becoming a thought leader and first to market across multiple initiatives that continue to redefine the in-flight experience.
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?
The aviation industry has made meaningful progress in gender equality, particularly in recognizing the importance of diverse leadership and elevating more women into visible innovation roles. We’re seeing stronger mentorship networks, leadership development initiatives, and a broader commitment to representation across the ecosystem.
That said, women remain underrepresented in senior, technical, and operational leadership positions. The challenge now is accelerating advancement, not just entry, by ensuring equitable access to sponsorship, decision-making influence, and career-defining opportunities.
Sustainable progress will come from embedding inclusion into leadership pipelines and culture, so diversity isn’t an initiative; it’s a standard.
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 as a woman has meant operating in an industry that has traditionally been technical and male-dominated. One challenge has been ensuring that experience-led innovation, such as storytelling, passenger engagement and emotional connection, is valued alongside engineering and operations.
But that has also been the opportunity.
“Innovation must be scalable, secure, and aligned with long-term goals.”
I’ve found that bringing a passenger-first perspective shifts the conversation from “what can we build?” to “how will this make someone feel at 35,000 feet?” Innovation isn’t just about infrastructure; it’s about relevance, representation, and connection.
The diversity of perspective has directly influenced better outcomes. When leadership reflects different lived experiences, we challenge assumptions more effectively and design solutions that serve a broader range of travelers. In content especially, diverse voices shape what stories are elevated and how passengers see themselves reflected onboard.
Inclusive leadership doesn’t just change who is in the room, it changes the results.
APEX: How do you foster a culture of innovation within your organization, particularly in a highly regulated and operationally complex industry like aviation?
Innovation in aviation requires discipline as much as creativity. We foster it by creating safe spaces for ideas while grounding everything in operational reality. That means encouraging cross-functional collaboration across content, product, engineering and operations, so innovation is both aspirational and executable.
We also stay relentlessly passenger-focused. In a regulated environment, constraints are real, but they often spark smarter solutions. When teams understand the “why” behind the experience we’re trying to create, innovation becomes purposeful rather than experimental.
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?
We’re focused on reshaping the journey through smarter content ecosystems, personalization, and more seamless digital touchpoints. That includes leveraging data insights to curate more relevant entertainment, expanding streaming and onboard platform capabilities, and exploring immersive and next-generation viewing environments.
The goal is simple: make the inflight experience feel less static and more connected to how passengers consume media on the ground.
“Aviation and technology need diverse voices, not just to improve representation, but to build better solutions.”
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?
AI and automation are transforming how we analyze content performance, forecast demand, and optimize curation. They allow us to move from reactive programming to more predictive, insight-led strategy. But importantly, these technologies enhance our teams, they don’t replace them. Human judgement, cultural understanding, and creative instinct remain essential, especially in content and passenger experience.
When prioritizing investment, we focus on technologies that materially improve the passenger experience or meaningfully increase operational efficiency, while empowering our people to work smarter and more strategically. Innovation must be scalable, secure, and aligned with long-term goals.
Technology is an enabler; people remain the differentiator.
APEX: What advice would you give to the next generation of women aspiring to leadership roles in aviation and technology?
Prepare and educate yourself to be the best in your field. Be resilient and strong. Ask for opportunities if they don’t come your way.
Be confident in the perspective you bring. Aviation and technology need diverse voices, not just to improve representation, but to build better solutions.
Seek sponsors, not just mentors. Stay curious about both the technical and commercial sides of the business. And don’t wait until you feel 100 per cent ready. Growth often happens in the stretch roles.
To view the rest of the interviews in this week-long series, click here.