Adelman Travel, a corporate travel management firm, has announced its partnership with Flightsayer, a Boston-based flight delay prediction startup. The partners will deliver flight delay predictions to corporate travellers through Adelman’s new virtual assistant mobile app, AVA.

Using machine learning, Flightsayer predicts flight delays weeks, days and hours ahead of scheduled departure, “empowering travellers to make better itinerary choices and proactively manage potential disruptions”.

Thinking differently about delays

“We created Flightsayer to change the way travellers think about flight delays,” said Flightsayer CEO and co-founder, Bala Chandran. “Disruptions aren’t an inevitable ‘cost of doing business’ for corporate travellers — they can be quantified and managed much like any other risk.”

Adelman’s app, AVA (Adelman Virtual Assistant), helps corporate travellers book and manage their travel, as well as helping ensure corporate travel policy compliance. It will now include real-time enhanced flight alerts and flight delay predictions from Flightsayer.

AI for customer experience

Ivan Imana, Chief Information Officer at Adelman Travel, commented: “In a market where services compete to simply inform passengers of delays after they have happened, Flightsayer’s offering stands out because they assess the risk of delay before it happens, helping passengers proactively manage their delays instead of simply reacting to them.”

Adelman’s app, which is in a phased roll-out expected to be completed Q2 2018, leverages Flightsayer’s application programming interface (API) to facilitate seamless integration with Adelman’s mobile platform.

“We’re working with leading travel management companies, corporations, GDSs, and third-party providers to bring our technology to business travellers across the globe,” said Michael Jacques, Chief Commercial Officer at Flightsayer.

“We’re committed to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve our customers’ experiences on the road,” added Andy McGraw, Adelman’s Chief Executive Officer.