Philippine Airlines cuts waits with AI contact centre

Philippine Airlines has overhauled its contact centre operations using Twilio Flex, cutting average wait times to under a minute and laying out a plan to use automation and AI for more routine passenger enquiries.

The work is part of a broader modernisation programme launched after the airline's 2021 restructuring. The focus is to reduce fragmentation across customer service channels during peak travel periods and disruption events.

Philippine Airlines is Asia's oldest continuously operating commercial airline. It serves about 31 domestic and 39 international destinations, subject to seasonal and network changes. The airline carried more than 16 million passengers in 2025, according to the case study.

"It's been a story of transformation," said Mark Anthony Munsayac, Vice President for Customer Experience at Philippine Airlines. "We refocused our strategies around digital transformation and reshaping our culture."

Customer service and loyalty have become central to the carrier's recovery strategy, alongside fleet modernisation and selective route expansion. The airline entered Chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in the United States in 2021 and emerged later that year. Publicly disclosed results show improving financial and operational performance since then, including a return to profitability in subsequent years.

"For us, loyalty is about earning passenger trust," Munsayac said. "Passengers may still fly for convenience or price even after a poor experience, but our goal is for them to choose Philippine Airlines because we've earned their trust."

Contact centre overhaul

Airlines typically face sharp swings in contact volumes during delays, cancellations, and extreme weather. Philippine Airlines aimed to ease pressure created by slow handoffs between departments and separate channels for voice, chat, and online servicing.

Twilio Flex now sits at the centre of its contact centre setup. The platform integrates with the airline's customer systems and consolidates passenger interactions across channels, giving agents a clearer view of a passenger's journey during enquiries.

"Since implementing the platform, our average contact centre wait time has dropped to under one minute," Munsayac said, citing internal performance tracking. "Shorter handle times and expanded self-service options have helped drive operational efficiency and cost savings."

Next, the airline wants more consistent performance throughout the day, particularly during disruption events when volumes spike. It is expanding automation across chat and voice, adding options for involuntary and voluntary rebookings as well as new bookings.

"Together, these improvements have contributed to a meaningful increase in customer satisfaction, which in recent measurements has reached around 95%, placing us among the stronger performers in the industry."

The platform is also being used to connect communications across departments, including coordination among customer experience, marketing, engineering, and loyalty teams.

"We're finalizing the design for an end-to-end communication platform to provide a more personalized experience for our passengers," Munsayac said. "It's not just the customer experience team involved - we're collaborating closely with marketing, engineering, and loyalty teams."

Passenger data can also trigger targeted messages across preferred channels. One example is a reminder for frequent flyers who usually prepay for baggage but have not done so shortly before travel.

"Our focus is on servicing first. Revenue follows when we offer the right ancillary services to the right passenger, at the right moment, based on what we know about them," Munsayac said.

Automation roadmap

Philippine Airlines has introduced a generative AI chat experience for online assistance and is testing voicebots for selected call types. AI currently supports about 10% of customer service tasks, including flight status checks and basic requests.

"We're aiming to reach what we call a 'super AI agent' state by April 2026, where around 80% of the tasks a live agent can perform can be handled by AI," Munsayac said.

"Our deflection rate is about 45%, meaning nearly half of customer concerns are resolved without being transferred to a live agent," he added.

The airline said it will keep access to human support visible for passengers who prefer it.

"We're not hiding our live agents - passengers can always choose to connect with one. Our goal is for customers to use digital and automated options because they deliver a better experience, not because they're forced to," Munsayac said.

Philippine Airlines reported about 30% monthly cost savings in customer service operations and expects further gains as automation expands.

Wider AI use

AI is also being applied beyond customer support, including predictive maintenance for aircraft. The airline described a modular approach that adds tools over time, rather than relying on a single vendor for all AI needs.

"With the terabytes of data generated by aircraft sensors and maintenance reports, we can anticipate which components may require attention before a failure happens," Munsayac said. "This helps us improve reliability, enhance safety, and minimize operational disruptions."

Looking ahead, the airline plans to implement a customer data platform to unify loyalty programmes, communications, and service operations.

"It sounds simple but delivering a personalized and consistent experience requires alignment across different stakeholders and the right technology and partners," Munsayac said. "It's not just a project or a department's job - it's a capability we must build together as an organization."