Air France-KLM is migrating its digital applications to the cloud through a partnership with Accenture.

As part of a multi-year initiative, the group is moving from its three existing data centers and hopes the transition will improve operations in areas including passenger transport and aircraft maintenance and increase agility, enabling the group’s airlines to access real-time information and improve decision making.

Accenture is co-leading the initiative and the partners have devised a common operating model.  A “cloud migration factory that uses predefined processes and reusable templates” has been set up and 350 applications have already been moved.

“This collaboration represents a significant milestone in our ongoing digital transformation,” said Pierre-Olivier Bandet, executive vice president of information systems for Air France-KLM. 

“By leveraging cloud and AI, we can build more flexible and efficient operations that enhance agility and performance across the organization,” Bandet said. “Our work with Accenture will help us unlock new opportunities to streamline processes, optimize decision-making, and leverage data to continuously improve the travel experience for millions of customers.”

“Together with Air France-KLM, we are building resilience and new growth opportunities by harnessing the power of cloud and gen AI,” said Sabine Bechelani, managing director for travel and client account lead for Accenture.  

“This collaboration underscores our ability to help clients establish the digital core needed to successfully compete in the operationally complex and highly competitive market of air travel,” Bechelani said. “As a result, we are enabling our clients to thrive and innovate with speed, efficiency and access to information.”

Air France-KLM announced its partnership with Google Cloud in late 2024. The group said at the time that it hoped to gain a better understanding of passenger preferences, travel patterns and behavior enabling it to tailor services to travelers. The collaboration also enables the airlines to take advantage of Google’s artificial intelligence expertise.