Driving Digital Transformation in Aviation: Insights from Ricard Vilà

Aviation is dynamic and exciting. It still has a special hold on people’s imaginations, which is a large part of how the sector continues to draw in talent from other areas. Still, for such a fast-moving industry, true innovation can be difficult to harness in aviation – which is why Venari Partners, as an aviation-aligned firm doing all we can to disrupt and innovate the executive search market, is always intrigued to hear about airlines that are doing things differently to drive digital transformation in aviation.

LATAM is a case in point. We’ve been following their latest moves with interest – so of course it made sense to invite them to take part in the second fireside chat hosted by our Director, James Parker, at this year’s World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam. Joining James on Tuesday 8th at the RAI was LATAM’s Chief Digital Officer, Ricard Vilà. If you’re unfamiliar with Ricard’s work and with what LATAM are doing, just read on for a quick primer!

We’re living in a time of unrelenting, accelerated change – and digital transformation is a huge part of that, having an enormous influence on our habits as consumers. Aviation is by no means excluded from this. ‘The passenger experience is mainly digital,’ Ricard told James. ‘So being digital is the only option. For us, it means being able to react fast to changes in customer preferences.’

For LATAM, digital is crucial for providing passengers with the best possible experience. That means the airline has paid close attention to how best to attract and retain their digital talent. As we are living in what Ricard calls a ‘dual world’ between physical presence and digital connection, it’s meant that the carrier has had to adapt accordingly.

He admitted that while LATAM continue to improve their talent model for their in-person staff, the ‘particularities’ of the market for tech candidates meant that a slightly different approach is necessary. ‘What we did was to separate the group of people that were creating this digital experience from scratch. We created it, then we integrated this back into the organisation,’ Ricard said.

LATAM’s willingness to set apart, then integrate new units into the wider organisation shows they are seeking to move beyond the command-and-control leadership style of the corporate world, instead emphasising the need to ‘mix different types of people’ who can work together quickly. This has led them to search for talent from outside the aviation industry. ‘We try to find people that come from our future, that have done what we want to do next,’ Ricard explained.

To help ease the process, LATAM have also shaken up how they think about growth and roles. Individual contributors, for example, are hired not only for their ‘craftsmanship’, as Ricard put it, but also ‘certain cultural traits, so they can get excited about our values’.

Despite its ongoing appeal, historically aviation has not always been the most welcoming sector for people joining from outside the industry. LATAM are bypassing this problem, letting new blood and old hands gel thanks to the emphasis they place both on sharing knowledge and encouraging different styles of working. As Ricard put it: ‘Learning is a tremendous tool for motivation.’

Integration is key to what lets LATAM operate successfully and seamlessly not just in different parts of Latin America, but also from their Barcelona base. For the airline, the pandemic meant that ‘we really realised that working remotely allows us to be more productive,’ Ricard said. ‘So, when COVID stopped, we didn’t go back.’ That means there’s no hybrid working policy or enforced in-office days for the company, allowing them to attract digital talent within four time zones either side of Santiago. Ricard, a native of Barcelona, has spent long enough in Chile to feel more than a mere affinity for the country. ‘My wife is Chilean, my kids are Chilean, so that makes me part Chilean!’

LATAM’s digital talent policy lets them cast their net much wider, when it comes to searching for candidates, than if they had a back-to-office mandate. It's a bold strategy, not least at a time when even tech companies, let alone airlines, are pushing staff to return to work in person. Nonetheless, Ricard spoke openly about how LATAM have sought inspiration – or even ‘stole’ – ideas about working practices and culture from outside aviation. He cites Netflix and the tech industry as influences on how LATAM are operating these days, as well as leadership hacks cribbed from the likes of Ray Dalio.

LATAM’s broad-minded approach is commendable. Indeed, we’ve been actively recommending their approach to recruiting and embedding talent from outside the industry to other airlines we work with. We look forward to seeing what next year holds for LATAM – but until then, our thanks once again to Ricard for a fascinating discussion!