Technology trajectory in aviation: Innovations leading to value creation (2000–2019)

Abstract

This study identifies relevant innovations and discusses value creation in the aviation industry between 2000 and 2019. Aviation experts with experience in innovation were selected and invited to complete a survey identifying the leading innovations in the industry. This study contributes to recent aviation history by offering a list of innovations and a discussion of technological path dependency and value proposition with examples. This overview is helpful to academics and practitioners to verify how these innovations have shaped the industry worldwide, making it more efficient, agile, sustainable, and safe. The innovations selected comprise consolidated technologies and emerging advances introduced in the timeframe proposed. 33 innovations primarily related to incremental and technical typologies that add value to products were mapped. In addition, this study provides insightful findings by classifying the value created for the aviation sector into five innovation clusters: (1) aircraft technology, adding value in terms of efficiency and sustainability; (2) innovation in passenger services, creating more personalized services and enhancing the customer experience; (3) innovation in flying, adding value in terms of safety and the security environment; (4) business and operational management, improving procedures and revenue; (5) and general applications, adding value in terms of Aviation 4.0 (increases in automation and data exchange, including cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IOT) and cloud computing).