Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a multi-year deal with French airline Air France-KLM to migrate its workloads to the cloud.
TCS will move the airline group's data to the cloud over the next few years, which will enable Air France-KLM to exit its data centers.
According to the companies, it is hoped that the new data architecture will improve operations and decision-making, as well as increase efficiency.
The two companies have been working together for three decades, with TCS providing services related to Air France-KLM's social media, customer service, and e-commerce.
This new partnership will involve migrating critical systems and core business data to the cloud surrounding flight operations, passenger information, aircraft maintenance, and the airline's e-commerce platforms.
“In a rapidly evolving industry, we are committed to becoming a champion of air transport in Europe, while fulfilling our role as a frontrunner of sustainable aviation," said Pierre-Olivier Bandet, EVP & group CIO of Air France-KLM Group.
"We are pleased to open a new and exciting chapter with our long-time partner, TCS, to make the most out of our data and new technologies to become even more data-centric and agile to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.”
The airline has a fleet of 551 aircraft flying to 320 destinations in 100 countries.
The migration will be led by a team of more than 100 people across TCS delivery centers in France, the Netherlands, and India, along with the Air France-KLM Data teams in Toulouse.
Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, head of Europe at TCS, added: “The partnership with Air France-KLM is one of TCS’ longest relationships in Europe. With KLM being our first customer in the Netherlands, the relationship between TCS and Air France-KLM is built on countless joint journeys, spanning multiple decades, opportunities, and challenges.
"While using technology to set the standards for customer experience in airline travel year after year, we managed to strengthen and deepen our partnership at the same time. This new deal is a compliment to both Air France-KLM and TCS teams for their mutual trust, commitment, and perseverance to build long-lasting and successful partnerships that drive sustainable growth.”
According to the European Energy Efficiency Platform (E3P) Code of Conduct website, Air France has a data center located in Valbonne. In 2017, the facility celebrated its 40th anniversary. It was renovated in 2016 with a new computer room. A report from La Quotidienne noted that the airline also has data centers in Toulouse, France, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Earlier this year, Air France announced it would be deploying Starlink WiFi on board its aircraft from 2025.
This year has also seen Indian airline IndiGo migrate to the cloud, and United Airlines announced in April it had almost completed its migration to Amazon Web Services.
