How Virgin Atlantic uses AI to enhance every step of travel
OpenAI NewsVirgin Atlantic 是一家以提供令人难忘的旅行体验并连接全球数百万旅客著称的航空公司。
我们采访了 Virgin Atlantic 的首席财务官 Oliver Byers，讨论了该航空公司如何评估并推进 AI 投资与回报、在受监管行业内推动安全且负责任的应用、用 AI 打造符合品牌调性的客户体验，以及在雄心与治理之间如何寻求平衡。
本系列“执行官职能”呈现推动 AI 转型的企业领导者视角。
作为 CFO，通常要通过很高的门槛才能支持新技术投资。最初是什么让你决定把 AI 放到公司优先议程上，并在更大范围内推进？
在 Virgin Atlantic，我们一直把自己看作挑战者，愿意通过大胆的下注来制造差异化。AI 非常契合这一理念。与全球大型航空公司相比，我们规模较小，就必须用更聪明的方式弥补规模劣势——前沿技术正好能做到这一点。
几年前开始探索企业级 AI 时，我们采取了广泛试验的方式：测试、学习，观察真正能带来价值的方向。随着时间推移，我们聚焦了合作伙伴，选择与少数领先企业深度合作，其中就包括 OpenAI。很快我们就看到了确凿的成效：从早期试点到后来的 ChatGPT Enterprise 试验，日常工作中都能看到切实收益。
“我们从小规模试验到现在的大型项目，都能看到它带来的日常效益……从任何 CFO 的角度看，这已不可忽视——必须拥抱它。”
一旦你看到了回报——流程更快、员工更满意——作为 CFO，投资决策也就变得简单了。
内部多个团队已通过使用 Codex 和 ChatGPT Enterprise 在不同职能与用例上取得显著生产力提升。有哪些你最欣赏的 AI 应用案例？
最明显的胜利来自我们的数字与软件开发团队。借助 AI，我们写码和测试更快，新功能更快上线，客户体验也因此得到加速改善。无论是移动应用、值机流程，还是常旅客计划，这些在航空业都是重要的差异化因素。开发周期缩短了，客户能感受到变化。
人事团队也积极参与。我们为人力资源和公司制度构建了定制 GPT，提高了自助服务和内部支持的速度。财务方面，AI 帮助我们撰写初稿叙述、实时分析绩效数据并生成洞见——在像我们这样受监管的行业，这类能力尤其有价值。
令我最振奋的是，这些看似“小”胜利的累积效应。每一项改进都提高了效率，合起来则在重塑我们的运营方式。
“我们看到技术被大量采用……最终的结果是我们能更快地向客户推出更多代码，从而提供更好的体验。”
你们一直强调以人为本的品牌定位。你们如何让员工充分利用 AI 投资产生最大价值？
文化是第一位的。我们的 CEO Shai 和我一直在跟团队讨论 AI。我们希望打造一种把 AI 视为机遇的心态：它是赋能工具，让团队更快、更聪明，帮助我们为客户创造不同凡响的体验。
我们用四个支柱来建立这种文化：教育、社区、护栏与不断迭代。
先是培训与教育。我们与 OpenAI 合作，制作了从如何编写高质量提示到如何构建定制 GPT 的指南与操作手册。现在组织内部有数百个定制 GPT，且每周都在增加。
我们建立了 AI 拥护者网络——这些同事热衷实验并在团队间分享所学，展示各种可能性。我们还与 Cambridge Spark 合作，引入 AI 学徒，帮助扩大并加速我们的工作。
接下来是护栏：既保护敏感领域，又鼓励试验。最后是持续迭代：什么有效、什么无效，如何改进。这是一个随人和技术发展而演进的动态框架。
你们的“ digital concierge ” 展示了 AI 如何以既有人情味又契合品牌的方式重塑体验。在设计这样的 AI 方案时，你们如何兼顾品牌与商业价值？
“ digital concierge ” 是我们迄今最令人兴奋的产品之一。我们的愿景是为每位客户提供一个集中入口——无论是寻求旅行灵感、管理预订、解决问题，还是了解常旅客权益，都能在这里完成，不论客户是否乘坐 Virgin Atlantic。
但这一切要从品牌出发。 Virgin Atlantic 一直以人情味与机智著称。我们的挑战是如何通过 AI 把这些特质呈现出来。我们把 concierge 打造成符合品牌语调与客服风格的产品，让体验真正有“我们”的感觉。
同样重要的是判断何时不让 AI 独自处理。conierge 能快速应对常规问题，但遇到复杂或敏感情况时，它会无缝交接到人工。我们在衡量参与度、满意度和对收入的影响，但核心在于体验是否自然、真诚。
“这不是考虑未来六个月能做什么，而是关于三年甚至更长远我们能实现的愿景。”
你们如何衡量 AI 是否带来回报——既包括短期的，也包括作为长期战略赌注的效果？
我们从两个层面衡量 ROI：短期的生产力提升和长期的战略影响。
对于小规模用例，我们从底层统计节省的时间与效率提升。对于大型项目，则从预期结果出发——希望带来什么变化——再据此设定指标。
例如，市场团队使用 AI 制作内容时，我们会跟踪资产数量、制作时间和总体节省时长。像 concierge 这样的企业级项目，我们将指标直接与结果挂钩：客户中心等待时间下降、自助率提升以及收入增长等。
你对其他 CFO 和企业领导在推进企业 AI 采用方面有什么建议？
首先，要有雄心。这项技术演进速度极快，要以三年为期来规划，勇敢设定目标。
其次，从结果出发，而不是从工具出发。很多组织先有了技术，再去找问题。应先定义成功样态，然后据此选择技术。
最后，在雄心与治理之间找到平衡。作为 CFO，我们既要管理风险，也要释放机会。我们制定了明确的数据隐私、模型使用与访问控制政策，让员工能在安全的前提下创新。打好这些基础，你就能看到价值倍增。
补充说明： Virgin Atlantic 在其运营中使用了 ChatGPT Enterprise 和 Codex，并在其语音驱动的数字旅行管家中采用了 OpenAI 的 realtime voice API。
Virgin Atlantic is a global airline known for delivering memorable travel experiences and connecting millions of people around the world.
We spoke with Oliver Byers, Chief Financial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, about how the airline is approaching AI investments and ROI, supporting safe and responsible adoption in a regulated industry, creating customer experiences that stay true to the brand, and balancing big ambitions with thoughtful governance.
Our Executive Function series features perspectives from leaders driving transformation through AI.
CFOs often have a high bar to pass to support investing in new technologies. As CFO, what convinced you that AI was worth prioritizing across the business initially and at a larger scale?
At Virgin Atlantic, we’ve always seen ourselves as a challenger—willing to take bold bets that help us stand apart. AI fits that philosophy perfectly. Being a smaller airline compared to our global competitors means we need to find smart ways to offset scale disadvantages. Leading-edge technology gives us that edge.
When we started exploring enterprise AI a few years ago, we took a broad approach—testing, learning, and seeing where the real value lay. Over time, we narrowed our partnerships and went deep with a few select leaders, including OpenAI. The conviction came quickly: we could see tangible benefits day to day, from early pilots to our ChatGPT Enterprise trials.
“We can see the benefit that it brings day to day…from small-scale trials that we ran all the way through to larger-scale programs that we’re now running—it’s delivering tangible benefit. From any CFO’s perspective you can’t ignore it—you’ve got to embrace it.”
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Once you see the returns—from faster processes to happier people—you can’t ignore it. As a CFO, that makes the investment decision easy.
Internally, your teams are already seeing major productivity gains from using Codex and ChatGPT Enterprise across a range of functions and use cases. What are some of your favorite examples of AI adoption across the business?
The clearest wins came from our digital and software development teams. Using AI, we’re writing and testing code faster, shipping features more quickly, and improving customer experience at speed. In aviation, that’s a huge differentiator—whether it’s our mobile app, check-in experience, or loyalty program. Cycle times are shorter, and customers feel that progress.
Our people teams have also leaned in. We’ve supported custom GPTs on our HR and company policies, which now power faster self-service and internal support. On the finance side, AI helps us build first-pass narratives, analyze performance data, and generate insights in real time which is especially valuable in a regulated industry like ours.
What excites me most is how these smaller wins add up. Each one improves productivity, but collectively they’re reshaping how we operate.
“We’ve seen massive adoption of the technology...ultimately what that results in is us getting more code written at a faster pace in front of our customers to give a better experience.”
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Virgin Atlantic has always been a forward-thinking brand focused on people. How do you equip your team members to get the most out of your AI investments?
Culture comes first. Shai (our CEO) and I talk about AI constantly with our teams. We want to create a mindset that sees AI as an opportunity, a tool that empowers our teams, makes us faster and smarter, and helps us deliver brilliantly different experiences for our customers.
We’ve built this culture through four pillars: education, community, guardrails, and iteration.
Training and education came first. Together with OpenAI, we’ve created guides and playbooks—from how to write good prompts to how to build custom GPTs. We now have hundreds of custom GPTs across the organization, and that number grows every week.
We’ve built a network of AI champions—colleagues who love experimenting and share what they learn across teams. They show others the art of the possible. We’ve also partnered with Cambridge Spark to bring in AI apprentices who help us scale and accelerate our efforts.
Then come the guardrails—a trusting approach that protects sensitive areas but still encourages experimentation. Finally, we continuously iterate: what works, what doesn’t, how we can improve. It’s a living framework that evolves as our people and the technology evolve.
Virgin Atlantic’s new digital concierge shows how AI can reimagine brand experiences in a way that feels distinctly human and on-brand. How do you think about designing AI solutions that enhance the brand experience and build business value?
The digital concierge is one of the most exciting things we’ve built. The vision is for every customer to have one place they can go—to get inspiration for travel, manage their booking, resolve queries, or explore loyalty benefits—whether they’re flying Virgin Atlantic or booking a holiday.
But it starts with our brand. Virgin Atlantic has always been about human warmth and wit. Our challenge was: how do we bring that to life through AI? We built the concierge to reflect our brand voice and customer service tone so it truly feels like “us.”
Equally important is knowing when AI shouldn’t act alone. The concierge handles routine queries fast—but when a situation is complex or sensitive, it seamlessly hands off to a person. We’re measuring engagement, satisfaction, and revenue impact, but the heart of it is how naturally and authentically the experience feels.
“It’s not thinking about what’s possible in the next six months—it’s about the vision of what we can do in three years or longer.”
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What frameworks or measures do you use to judge whether AI is delivering ROI—both in the short term and as a longer-term strategic bet?
We measure ROI on two levels: short-term productivity gains and long-term strategic impact.
For smaller use cases, we track time savings and productivity gains from the ground up. For larger programs, we start with the outcome—what change are we driving—and build metrics from there.
In a smaller use case—say, marketing teams using AI to create content—we track the number of assets, time to produce them, and overall time saved. For enterprise-scale initiatives like our concierge, we tie metrics directly to outcomes: reductions in customer center wait times, improved self-service rates, and revenue growth.
Do you have any advice for other CFOs and business leaders to ensure they see successful AI adoption across the business?
First, be ambitious. This technology evolves at incredible speed, so think on a three-year horizon and be bold about what you want to achieve.
Second, start with outcomes, not technology. Too many organizations lead with the tools instead of the business problem. Define what success looks like, and build from there
Finally, balance ambition with governance. As CFOs, our role is to manage risk—but also to unlock opportunity. We’ve built clear policies around data privacy, model usage, and access control so our people can innovate confidently. Get those foundations right, and you’ll see the value multiply.
Virgin Atlantic uses ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex across its operations, and leverages OpenAI’s realtime voice API for its voice-powered digital travel concierge.
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