Raven, the aviation growth specialists, today launched the Customer Growth Index (CGI) at the 82nd IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro: a single, comparable rating of the digital experience that wins or loses airline bookings. The CGI scores carriers on four measures of airlines’ digital estates – speed, accessibility, booking flow and AI findability – and ranks each one against a bespoke competitive set matched by both business model and geography. In practice, this means a low-cost carrier is judged against comparable low-cost carriers in the same region rather than against a long-haul flag carrier or an operator in another market.
The launch operationalises 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 flight will be won on experience. As the report puts it, customer experience is becoming the new currency of the sector, and the CGI gives airlines the first like-for-like way to measure how much of it they are earning across their owned digital journey.
Each measure reflects where revenue is made or lost. Speed captures the conversions that slow, clunky booking flows shed on commodity routes. Accessibility matters because around one in five travellers has a disability: a large, loyal and underserved market that an accessible booking flow wins, and one that the EU Accessibility Act, the US Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the UK Equality Act increasingly require carriers to serve. Booking flow exposes the real friction that costs completed bookings. And AI findability measures whether AI assistants and meta-search can find, read and recommend a carrier as discovery shifts from search results to AI answers.
The gains are not confined to the point of sale. A faster, clearer, fairer and more accessible journey also builds loyalty: the retention that compounds over time as travellers return to a carrier they trust. McKinsey finds that airlines with consistently high satisfaction retain customers around 30% more effectively than peers on similar fares, and that integrated customer-experience investment is associated with +6–8% EBITDA within three years.
The index is delivered in three tiers of rising depth. The Index is an automated benchmark giving a CGI score, category rank, plain-English read on every measure and a confidence rating. The Analyst Review adds human judgement, including screen-reader and live booking-flow testing, to confirm where friction is real and what it is costing. The Distribution Review examines deeper revenue leaks across price, trust and channel mix, including how a carrier’s NDC and distribution setup helps or hurts. As a dedicated AGM offering, Raven is making The Index complimentary for IATA member carriers.
Methodologically, the CGI blends automated scanning with expert human review. Its automated speed, accessibility and web-vitals analysis is powered by the Pythia rating engine, with scoring designed by Dr Conor Farrington, the index and methodology lead.
Quotes
“For two decades aviation competed on efficiency. The next decade will be won 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, across 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 cannot read and recommend you, you are invisible at the very moment a traveller is choosing. That is why AI findability sits at the heart of the CGI: it is fast becoming the front door to every booking.”
Edward Croft Baker, Transformation Director, Raven
Industry Voice · From Aviation’s New Flight Plan
“Younger passengers don’t buy loyalty, they buy alignment.”
Caroline Whyatt, Head of Seamless Travel Programme, British Airways
