In the following interview, Michael Sefain delves into his role as a Lead Product Manager at a leading private jet company, sharing his vision for innovation in the aviation industry and exploring the challenges and technological trends shaping its future.
Michael's journey in aviation stems from a lifelong passion that began during his high school years in the UK, where he has lived for over 40 years. This passion guided his educational path, leading to a Master's in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD from Cranfield University, focusing on unconventional aircraft designs and renewable liquid hydrogen fuel.
With over 25 years of experience, Michael has held diverse roles across aviation, contributing his expertise to organizations like QinetiQ, the UK Royal Air Force, and Airbus, as well as tech startups. Currently, he leads engineering teams, driving efficiency through automation and innovation.
Central to his approach is a customer-centric mindset and deep empathy, which he believes are crucial for achieving optimal outcomes in aviation. His vision of creating seamless, user-focused experiences that enhance safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction is supported by a recent OAG report highlighting a growing demand among travellers for improved customer service. Notably, younger generations are now favouring automated solutions, underscoring the industry's shift towards tech-driven approaches.
Looking ahead, Michael sees advancements in AI, sustainable fuels, and supersonic flight as exciting prospects for the industry's future.
Q: What are some key responsibilities and challenges you face as a Lead Product Manager in a major aviation company?
Sefain: I lead several engineering teams across the globe, working on complex strategic projects in flight operations and managing existing systems crucial to the company's functioning. As a Lead, I’m responsible for developing roadmaps, product discovery, conceptualizing and launching new products and initiatives, business analysis, establishing and driving results through KPIs and metrics, driving development and authoring sales and user documentation. I continuously collaborate with business stakeholders, development, and design teams as necessary.
The key challenges I face stem from the scale and complexity of operations (5 airlines, 250+ aircraft), each with different requirements and problems, coupled with the high demands and expectations of customers. Ensuring our solutions are as automated, seamless, and scalable as possible presents a continuous but exciting challenge.
Q: What is your vision for innovation in the aviation industry? What recent innovations or upcoming products are you and your teams working on?
Sefain: Innovation for me centres around creating seamless and user-centric experiences that not only meet but exceed current market demands and anticipate future needs.
In aviation, this means using technology to enhance safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
To align with my company’s overall strategic goals, my focus is usually on making automation a fundamental part of our product offerings to streamline our operation and provide efficiencies enabling us to grow at scale without increasing headcount.
Some recent innovations include a Digital Smart Task Management Platform that provides real-time and intelligent task management, simplifying and centralizing operational and organisational tasks such as flight approvals and other flight preparation processes. Tasks are automatically prioritised and optimised based on several flight- and customer-specific parameters. The result has been a significant increase in the timely completion of these mission-critical tasks with less effort than before. That has enabled our teams to focus on accomplishing the right tasks at the right time while flagging any that require attention. The platform’s success has led to the extension and use of this system to other teams across the organisation.
Our teams are also developing AI tools to analyze and embed customer preferences and behaviours in our flights throughout the overall flight experience and preparation process.
Overall, these innovations and others like them position us as leaders in private aviation.
Q: What do you consider to be the most significant challenges facing the airline industry today?
Sefain: The airline industry as a whole faces several challenges. Sustainability and Environmental Impact is one. As climate change concerns grow, airlines are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Implementing sustainable practices and investing in greener technologies, such as sustainable aviation fuels, is critical but can be costly and complex.
Similarly navigating evolving regulations, especially related to safety, emissions, and passenger rights, can be challenging. Compliance requires a lot of resources and can impact operational flexibility.
Digital transformation clearly offers many opportunities for airlines. However, integrating new technologies into existing systems can also be a challenge. Airlines must balance innovation with legacy systems and ensure cybersecurity measures are robust.
Customers increasingly expect personalized and seamless travel experiences, driven by advancements in technology. Meeting these expectations while managing operational costs is another key challenge.
Q: What are the most significant technological trends currently shaping the aviation industry?
Sefain: There is a significant shift towards AI which is continuing to make inroads into aviation. AI is now being widely integrated into various aspects of the industry from operations, flight planning, crew management, and maintenance to customer service. And, its impact and benefits can extend across the entirety of the organisation.
Q: What excites you most about the future of technology in aviation?
Sefain: The future of technology in aviation is incredibly exciting, particularly with advancements in AI and data analytics. Sustainable fuels, supersonic flight, hydrogen aircraft, and air taxis are also major game-changers on the horizon. The industry continually evolves in response to global social, political, and geographical changes, presenting new challenges and opportunities.
Q: How is the aviation industry leveraging innovation to drive sustainability and reduce its environmental footprint?
Sefain: The industry invests in sustainability, from using sustainable aviation fuel to employing AI and machine learning to optimize flight management and reduce fuel consumption. Carbon offset programs also support the development of global projects in renewable power and energy efficiency.
Q: How do you see the future of customer experience in aviation?
Sefain: The future of customer experience in aviation is all about being meticulously customer-focused throughout every step of the booking process not just by our customer-facing teams but also across operations, finance and sales. We’re dedicated to eradicating pain points and providing a very personalized services. One of the ways we can do this is by leveraging advanced technology. This allows us to enhance safety measures but also provide customers with the information they need to make informed travel decisions. We've made significant progress in assuring seamless end-to-end flight experiences right through from booking and approvals to flight arrangements, incorporation of customer preferences, arrangement of dining experiences, communications internal and with our customers, and fulfillment of the very best flight travel experience possible. This level of service is only possible through the strategic use of technology.
Q: Any advice to aspiring product managers who are looking to make an impact in the aviation industry?
Sefain:
- Deeply understand your customer, the industry and domain in which you work
- Think outside the box
- Pay attention to detail
- Work hard but also work smart
- Maintain a tactical lens of the day-to-day but never lose sight of the strategic goals
- Always look for ways to improve
- Continuously seek opportunities to collaborate more productively with your peers, stakeholders, and engineering teams.
Building solid relationships and achieving the best possible outcomes requires taking pride in your work and having deep customer empathy.
