Why the people who embrace change will build the future of airline technology
Airline technology careers are changing rapidly as AI, digital transformation and new ways of working reshape the industry.
There are plenty of conversations happening around AI, digital transformation and the future of airline technology.
But underneath all of those conversations sits a much more important question.
How do you build a career that stays relevant when the industry keeps reinventing itself?
That was one of the biggest takeaways from my recent conversation with Fritz Overhammer.
His career hasn’t followed a straight line. It has moved from hospitality into digital marketing, entrepreneurship, commercial leadership, product management, enterprise architecture and now AI. Looking back, every move appears deliberate. At the time, each one simply came from recognising where the industry was heading and making the decision to learn before everyone else.
Fritz Oberhummer
If there’s one thing my career has taught me, it’s that change isn’t something to fear. It’s something to prepare for. Every role I’ve taken has been about learning the next capability before I needed it, whether that was digital marketing, commercial leadership, product platforms or AI. Today, we’re entering another major transition. AI will change how we build products, how we work and how organisations operate. My advice is simple: stay curious, keep learning and don’t wait until change is forced upon you. The people who continuously reinvent themselves will always have opportunities, whatever comes next.
For leaders across airlines and airline technology companies, there is an important lesson in that approach.
Technology changes.
Markets change.
Customers change.
The people who continue growing are usually the ones who change first.
Every career starts with transferable skills
Fritz’s career began in a family-run hotel in Austria.
On paper, it looks worlds away from airline technology.
In reality, it provided many of the skills that would shape everything that followed.
Handling difficult customers.
Working under pressure.
Learning to communicate clearly.
Understanding operations when things don’t go to plan.
Those experiences became the foundation for every leadership role that followed.
It is a useful reminder for hiring managers.
Technical expertise is important, but the people who thrive in complex environments are often those with strong commercial awareness, emotional intelligence and the ability to solve problems when there isn’t an obvious answer.
As AI automates more technical tasks, those human capabilities become even more valuable.
Curiosity creates opportunity
One of the recurring themes throughout Fritz’s career is curiosity.
Rather than staying comfortable, he repeatedly looked for the next challenge.
That mindset took him into digital marketing before smartphones had become mainstream.
It led him into an early iPhone startup that became one of Germany’s first iPhone importers, complete with rapid growth, international logistics, legal challenges from Apple and eventually a successful business sale.
More importantly, it taught lessons that many professionals never experience inside a corporate environment.
Commercial thinking.
Risk management.
Negotiation.
Understanding how technology creates value rather than simply building technology for its own sake.
Those lessons would become increasingly valuable as his career moved into larger organisations.
Technical knowledge only gets you so far
One insight that stood out during our conversation was how often Fritz found himself bridging two different worlds.
He understood technology.
He also understood people.
That combination meant he was regularly brought into customer meetings, sales presentations and executive conversations.
Being able to explain complex technical concepts in commercial language became a competitive advantage.
It still is today.
As airline technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, organisations need people who can connect engineering teams, product teams, commercial leaders and executive stakeholders.
That translation layer often determines whether transformation programmes succeed or stall.
It’s one of the reasons we continue seeing strong demand for professionals who can bridge legacy airline systems with modern retailing, Offer and Order initiatives and cloud-native platforms.
Technology rarely fails because of technology.
It usually fails because communication breaks down somewhere between strategy and delivery.
Growth comes from solving bigger problems
Throughout his time at Expedia, Fritz naturally gravitated towards fixing complex challenges.
Rather than simply managing existing partnerships, he helped redesign the commercial and technology strategy around third-party suppliers.
The result was significant growth.
More importantly, it demonstrated another leadership trait that appears repeatedly throughout successful careers.
High performers rarely ask, “What’s my job?”
They ask, “What’s the biggest problem we need to solve?”
That mindset naturally creates opportunities for greater responsibility.
AI doesn’t replace leadership. It changes it.
Towards the end of our conversation, the discussion naturally turned to AI.
There is plenty of fear surrounding artificial intelligence.
Fritz sees something different.
He believes AI will fundamentally reshape how organisations operate.
Not eventually.
Now.
His argument wasn’t that AI replaces people.
It changes what people need to become good at.
Future leaders won’t simply manage teams.
They’ll increasingly manage teams alongside AI agents, automated workflows and intelligent systems.
That requires entirely new leadership skills.
Understanding where human judgement adds value.
Knowing when AI should make recommendations.
Recognising where governance and oversight become essential.
These conversations are becoming increasingly relevant across airline technology. Recent industry developments continue to highlight AI as a strategic priority, while modern airline retailing and Offer-Order transformation are accelerating alongside it. British Airways’ move towards the Amadeus Altea NDC platform and Lufthansa Group reporting that half of its indirect bookings now flow through NDC channels demonstrate how quickly the commercial landscape continues to evolve.
Learning has become a permanent job
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the podcast wasn’t about AI itself.
It was about learning.
Every major step in Fritz’s career came from deliberately acquiring skills he didn’t yet possess.
Commercial leadership.
Platform strategy.
Product management.
Enterprise architecture.
Cloud technologies.
AI.
None of those transitions happened by accident.
They happened because he chose to become a beginner again.
That mindset may be the single most valuable leadership quality for the next decade.
The pace of change isn’t slowing.
If anything, it’s accelerating.
Recent discussions across airline technology have focused not just on AI itself, but on how airlines are rebuilding their technology foundations to support AI-ready retailing, cloud-native architectures and intelligent distribution. The organisations investing in those foundations today are positioning themselves for the next wave of innovation rather than simply reacting to it.
What this means for airline technology leaders
Whether you’re leading engineering, commercial, digital retailing or enterprise architecture, the message is remarkably consistent.
The future won’t belong to those with the deepest technical expertise alone.
It will belong to those who continue adapting.
Those who remain curious.
Those willing to step outside their comfort zone.
Those able to combine technology with commercial thinking and human leadership.
At Thornton Gregory, those are exactly the qualities we’re increasingly seeing clients prioritise when building leadership teams across airline technology.
The technology will continue evolving.
The people who embrace that evolution will shape what comes next.
