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Michael Raasch

CEO, Omnevo

Michael is Omnevo's Chief Executive Officer. He can look back on more than 20 years of experience in the aviation industry and travel retail sector, including several management positions within the Lufthansa Group, most recently as the VP Customer Concepts. His Customer Experience background is what helps him ensure, that the organization delivers industry-leading products, that enable growth and customer satisfaction.

Aviation & Travel

Omnevo Turns 2 and Looks to 2023

As we enter 2023 - and with a collective sigh of relief say goodbye to a frustrating 2022 – the global travel industry carries raised hopes for a full recovery and regaining the benchmark performance heights of 2019. I would like to wish you all success in 2023, which I think will be a hugely influential year for the future success of the mobility sector. This week marks the second anniversary of the launch of Omnevo, a company created in the midst of the biggest crisis ever seen in the travel sector. That timing wasn’t unfortunate or accidental; it was deliberate. The crisis radically transformed the industry’s challenges and demanded a new type of response. The unprecedented pressures and shifts in the market inspired Omnevo’s reaction; the development of a unique, end-to-end, digital marketplace solution for airlines, airports, and rail operators. A year later, and despite the frustration of the unevenness of recovery in 2022, we are all thankful that the industry’s situation has advanced well beyond the peak impact of the global crisis - and we’re a year closer to driving the industry back up to its pre-COVID performance benchmarks. Across all transport sectors, we are now seeing forward-thinking operators responding digitally to passengers’ unrelenting demands for stronger experiences and - whether its F&B, Retail, services, or other ancillaries - the passenger wants that experience in the palm of their hands, on their mobiles and laptops, and available at every step of the journey. The 2023 recovery will be dominated by the operators who deliver these passenger needs, seizing the digital advantage. The travel sector’s post-crisis recovery is already well underway and more airlines and airports are positioning their businesses digitally to enhance the passenger experience, raise operational efficiencies (including major sustainability gains), and increase revenue and profitability. These operators are strategically placed to seize major competitive advantages as the recovery accelerates in the coming months. In fact, Omnevo now has ten fully-implemented live customer platforms - including Singapore's KrisShop, Sky Express, Frankfurt Airport, Auckland Airport, and Air Europa – and already a further five major platforms well advanced for implementation in 2023. Travelers are determined to make 2023 the year they forget the COVID era and make up for the lost journeys, the time wasted, and the experiences missed.  When they travel the world again, they will bring with them demands for higher standards of customer experiences and expanded options in services, Food & Beverage, and Retail – and they want these experiences to be digitally powered. At Omnevo, we will continue to support the industry’s leaders by continually innovating and enhancing our platforms, further expanding our team (which grew by 50% in 2022) and developing additional services and options for our clients. In one way, 2023 will be like any other year. From energy prices to regional conflicts, from supply chains to surprise events, the industry will undoubtedly face remarkable pressures. However, the key difference today is that the impact of the COVID crisis is receding rapidly and major opportunities are growing right in front of us, opportunities that can be realized by the airlines, airports, and rail operators who  give the traveler the new standard of experience they demand - and deserve. From myself and the Omnevo team, I hope that the year ahead is a huge success for you and for the whole industry, and I hope I have the opportunity to meet you in 2023.

Aviation & Travel

How airlines can regain trust, loyalty and revenue by taking control of the digital customer journey.

December’s World Aviation Festival in London was a great opportunity to bring the industry together and, although attendance was inevitably lower than normal, there was a strong conference program that carried a mood of guarded optimism. Best of all, I was delighted to see just how strongly the focus was on real action to drive ancillary revenue and recovery.  Much of 2021 has been spent waiting for a recovery to be established and many airlines have understandably been hesitant (or unable) to commit to new investment or major change in their customer operations. The long hoped-for recovery has been impossible to forecast accurately and many airlines opted to simply ‘hunker down’ and wait until a clearer path can be seen through the storm. That strategy carries deep risks. We now face a new phase of crisis as Omicron sadly develops its global presence but the fact is that the world will continue to turn, people will continue to travel, the crisis will eventually recede, and traffic will return. Airlines need to be preparing right now to create the customer experience that the recovery will demand.  Yes, the picture of how the 2022 travel market will look in recovery is still blurred right now - but the key point is that we do already know exactly what the returning customer looks like and what they want. We have a clear understanding of the experience they want - and we have the digital tools to deliver that experience. 

Inside Omnevo

A personal perspective on leadership

The past year has been extraordinary in so many ways and, while the tragic impact on lives takes precedence, we’ve also had to deal with the huge changes in our working life too. As the crisis developed early last year, I was busy planning in my new role as CEO of Omnevo - AOE’s new specialist product division - positioned as a digital solution pioneer in the travel industry, launching in early 2021. As the crisis grew, this became the most challenging experience of my career, but I’ve been surprised to find that it’s also become one of the most instructive and rewarding experiences too. Creating and launching any new company is always a huge challenge but we suddenly faced extraordinary new barriers as the way we do business had to be transformed. Much of 2020 was spent planning the new company and today, still operates almost exclusively remotely. Many of us, including some of the founders, worked together for almost a year but have still not actually met in person! Yet we already operate successfully in a global network and are scaling and winning new business. Omnevo is a truly virtual organization; this is how we were born and that is how we thrive. In this short time, we’ve already made our mark on this industry, with a culturally diverse, agile and highly committed team working alongside customers of all sizes around the globe. We’re gaining a lot of attention because we are recognized as game changers - and that innovative spirit is integral to our team spirit. We are committed to being the digital challengers and innovators in the travel and mobility industry – an ethos drives us every day. And it’s working. But what is the glue behind this, what makes us successful? Why is it working and, in these bizarre working conditions, how did we manage to get the team so well and engage with our customers so quickly? I’m obviously proud of what we’ve achieved but I want to share my personal perspective on how we made this happen and hope that it will resonate with others in the industry - and, hopefully, help you with your management challenges too.