Raven launches the Customer Growth Index at the IATA AGM | News

Raven, the aviation growth specialists, today launched the Customer Growth Index (CGI) at IATA’s 82nd General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro: a single, comparable assessment of the digital experience that wins or loses airline bookings. The CGI rates airlines on four metrics of airline digital assets – speed, accessibility, booking flow and AI discoverability – and ranks each metric against a tailored competitive set that combines both business model and geography. In practice, this means that a low-cost airline is assessed against comparable low-cost airlines in the same region and not against a long-haul national carrier or an operator in another market.

The launch operationalizes the central argument of Aviation’s New Flight Plan, Raven’s groundbreaking report on the future of airline customer experience: that after two decades of competing on efficiency, the next decade of flying will be won on experience. As the report states, customer experience is becoming the industry’s new currency, and the CGI offers airlines the first like-for-like way to measure how much of it they earn during their own digital journey.
Each metric reflects where revenue is made or lost. Speed ​​captures the conversions that cause slow, clunky booking flows on freight routes. Accessibility matters because approximately one in five travelers have a disability: a large, loyal and underserved market captured by an accessible booking flow, and one that is increasingly required of carriers under the EU Accessibility Act, the US American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the UK Equality Act. The booking flow exposes the real friction that costs completed bookings. And AI discoverability measures whether AI assistants and meta-search can find, read, and recommend a carrier as discovery shifts from search results to AI answers.

Profits are not limited to the point of sale. A faster, clearer, fairer and more accessible journey also builds loyalty: the retention that increases over time as travelers return to a carrier they trust. McKinsey finds that airlines with consistently high satisfaction retain customers approximately 30% more effectively than comparable airlines with comparable fares, and that integrated investments in customer experience are associated with EBITDA of +6 to 8% within three years.
The index comes in three levels of increasing depth. The Index is an automated benchmark that displays a CGI score, category ranking, plain English information about each metric, and a reliability rating. The Analyst Review adds human judgment, including screen readers and live testing of the booking flow, to confirm where there is real friction and what it costs. The Distribution Review examines deeper revenue leaks in price, trust and channel mix, including how a carrier’s NDC and distribution setup helps or hurts. As a special AGM offer, Raven is making The Index free for IATA members.

Methodologically, the CGI combines automated scanning with expert human judgment. The automated analysis of speed, accessibility and web vitality is powered by the Pythia rating engine, with scores designed by Dr. Conor Farrington, index and methodology lead.
Quotes

“For twenty years, aviation has competed on efficiency. The next decade will be winning on experience. Customer experience is the new currency, and the Customer Growth Index gives airlines the first comparable way to see how much of it they are earning, or leaving on the table, during their digital journey.”
Louise Croft Baker, Experience Director, Raven, and author of Aviation’s New Flight Plan

“Discovery is moving from search results to AI answers. If an assistant can’t read and recommend you, you’re invisible the moment a traveler makes a choice. That’s why AI discoverability is at the heart of CGI: it’s fast becoming the front door of every booking.”
Edward Croft Baker, Transformation Director, Raven

VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY · FROM THE NEW AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN
“Younger passengers don’t buy loyalty, they buy alignment.”
Caroline Whyatt, Head of Seamless Travel Program, British Airways