Connecting flights

When UK air traffic control provider NATS suffered a technical outage on one of the busiest travel days of the year in late July this year, the UK’s airports were plunged into chaos. But while airlines had no choice but to postpone or cancel hundreds of flights, many were at least able to keep passengers up to date on what was happening, courtesy of software developer 15below.

The Brighton-based company has had a very busy summer (so far). It now supplies more than 60 leading airlines with automation software that ensures they can deliver critical passenger updates via email, text message and app notification. And with financial backing secured last year from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, it has also just completed its first M&A transaction, the acquisition of Airport AI, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform built for the airport sector.

Nicholas Key, CEO of 15below, believes the deal is a perfect mix. “We really admire Airport AI’s unique technology and their vision for transforming passenger communications, which aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering a seamless travel experience,” Key explains. “This partnership brings together two market leaders with deep expertise across airline and airport systems and passenger engagement, creating a powerful force for positive change across the travel industry.”

15below has grown rapidly in recent years by solving a knotty problem for airlines: the combination of their legacy systems and a travel industry where passengers book flights through many different channels has made it difficult for them to keep track of who exactly is due to fly with them and when. As a result, airlines have often found it difficult to communicate with passengers in a timely fashion, which can cause significant customer frustration. However, 15below’s software automates the connection between airline and passenger, ensuring airlines can provide accurate and real-time information, personalised to the customer.

For its part, Airport AI has built conversational AI tools that are already in use in more than 80 airports across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Its technology powers real-time, multi-language chatbots that can help passengers with common inquiries, disruption information and service requests.

“A key part of our investment strategy when we invested in 15below was to support them to become more of a holistic communications provider across both airlines and airports,” says LDC partner Aylesh Patel. “We did quite a lot of origination work to try to identify acquisition targets that might enable us to develop that broader, richer passenger experience.”

The attraction of Airport AI was its complementary market position to 15below and the quality of its AI technology, Patel explains. “There’s an opportunity to sell those tools into the airlines too, because in varying degrees they are all looking to modernise their technology for communicating with passengers.”

“It’s two best-in-class companies together,” adds Peter Cookson, managing partner at the advisory firm Armstrong, which supported LDC with commercial due diligence advice on both its original investment in 15below and on the Airport AI deal. “They can serve the passenger from the moment they arrive at the airport to when they’re getting on the flight and then when they land at their destination airport.”

Next stage of journey

The deal also appealed to Pierre Cuquemelle and Filipe Pereira, the co-founders of Airport AI, who were keen to focus on further product and service development. “The deal has given the founders an opportunity to realise some value, but they’re also committed to continuing the journey,” adds Patel.

Indeed, all of Airport AI’s 20 or so staff are staying with the combined business. Cuquemelle articulates the opportunity in similar terms to his new colleagues at 15below. “By combining our expertise in AI-driven passenger communication with 15below’s deep integration across airline systems, we’re building the foundation for a future where airports and airlines collaborate seamlessly to deliver smarter services,” he says. “[That will] improve operational efficiency and make travel less stressful for millions of people around the world.”

His final point will resonate with many travellers. Air traffic control delays in Europe hit record levels during 2024, according to industry statistics, and there has been little sign of improvement during 2025. In addition to problems caused by technical hitches hitting the whole system, individual airlines including Lufthansa, BA and KLM have suffered their own difficulties. All this plus the electricity sub-station fire near Heathrow Airport in March this year that forced the closure of the airport for several hours highlight the fragility of the air travel sector, with incidents causing knock-on effects that hit passengers around the world.

The solutions offered by 15below and Airport AI can’t eradicate this disruption, but they can ensure that passengers get much better information about what is going on – and also have a means to find out more. “For too long, airports and airlines have operated in silos when it comes to engaging with passengers,” says Cuquemelle. 

Key adds: “We are now in a unique position to drive smarter, more connected journeys for passengers while helping airlines and airports work more efficiently together.”

The value proposition isn’t simply about keeping passengers informed when their flights are delayed, though. Ultimately, 15below sees an opportunity for airlines and airports to enjoy two-way communications with passengers at each stage of their journey – answering their questions about everything from baggage to shopping opportunities.

The company’s tools also make it possible to personalise communications – a business class passenger, for example, may receive different messaging to a fellow passenger in economy. They might be encouraged to use a particular airport lounge, say, or offered a different meal option for the flight.

Exploring such ideas and understanding what airlines and airports are looking for from modern communication tools was an essential part of the commercial due diligence process, says Cookson, both ahead of LDC’s original investment in 15below and in the run-up to its acquisition of Airport AI.

“We spent a lot of time on customer referencing,” he says. “We spoke to airlines and airports about what they were doing before 15below and AirportAI came along, and the pain points they are still trying to solve. Putting all that together provides LDC with a view of how these businesses can come together and move into a really interesting place.”

The deal itself was relatively straightforward to deliver, say Patel and Cookson, with both sides aligned on the value of the opportunity.

“One concern in any commercial due diligence process is always whether the target company is open to talking to us – whether founders and leaders see the value of the process, particularly when they’ve never been through it before,” Cookson says. “Both 15below and AirportAI were very open and transparent, enabling a dialogue that helped get the transaction over the line, but that also identified areas where there were further opportunities to improve the combined business.”

Seamless operation

The next challenge is to fully integrate the two businesses. “The fact that Airport AI’s founders are joining 15below for the long term, along with all their colleagues, is really important because there’s no requirement to replace all that technical and commercial expertise,” says Patel.

“The piece we are working through now is around cultural integration – taking our time to ensure people are comfortable with how they are going to be working together as a single team. There’s no significant infrastructure to deal with, which helps, but we do also need to focus on how we integrate technically to support a common product set.”

There is also a desire to capitalise quickly on opportunity, both through organic growth and further M&A activity. “There is lots of demand coming through from customers for the current product set and our new technology suites, so that’s going to drive growth,” Patel adds. “But having done this first piece of M&A, we’re definitely on the lookout for the next pieces of the jigsaw – there’s a real appetite to create a business of scale.”