It’s one of those evergreen pieces of news, particularly around peak travel season and major holidays...hundreds, thousands, of flights cancelled...airports in chaos...travellers are angry...and, whether it is their fault or not, airlines’ image and bottom line take a hit.

Whether the weather, industrial action or operational issues are to blame, the fact is that disruption has become part and parcel of today’s air travel experience.

In today’s bustling skies and airports one tiny incident may suffice to unleash a domino effect of epic proportions. And things may get worse before they get better, as warned recently by top airline industry executives.

The good news is that if airlines can often do little to prevent disruption from happening, at least now they have tools with which to mitigate its effects.

Welcome to the World of Disruption Management

Efficiency and agility are here at a premium.

What’s the most efficient way to notify thousands of upset customers at once, in their own language and through their preferred contact method?

Better still...how best to give advance warning of any expected disruption before they even head to the airport?

A Disruption Manager should be in the toolbox of every airline that takes customer service seriously: a tool that lets you communicate directly with all the affected passengers in real time and allow them to take proper action (for example, by rebooking on alternative flights or requesting compensation).

Although highly technological in nature, it must be manageable by non-tech staff at operations and customer service teams, the ones that will be in the front line whenever an incident happens.

It should also differentiate between planned disruptions (for which there is often plenty of time in advance to prepare) from same-day, unplanned disruptions.

The financial implications are also quite different in each case, a non-too-trivial aspect if you take into account that one of the main goals of a Disruption Management Tool is to take the strain out of costly call centers and help-desk resources.