Effective IT use could mean survival for airlines as the oil price surge sends shockwaves through the industry, presenting "a greater challenge to the air transport industry than the aftermath of 9/11."

Fuel currently accounts for 34 per cent of operating costs and if oil stays at $135 per barrel, losses will be $6.1bn across the industry, said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA chief executive and director general.

"The determining factor of those who survive to 2010 could be the strength of IT capability," said Bisignani.

Surviving the oil crisis will depend to an enormous extent on IT and on the chief information officers (CIOs) who make it work in airlines,"said Paul Coby, SITA chairman and British Airways CIO.

"Airlines CIOs and departments must respond to the current challenging times with imagination and vigour," said Coby.

"With oil at nightmarish prices, the whole industry faces a challenge arguable greater and more long-lasting than 9/11.

“Airlines were the first industry to fully automate all parts of their business. The aAir transport industry has now become the world’s first truly web-enabled industry,” he said.

“IT enabled airlines to make both major savings and improve customer service after 9/11. But there is now an even more urgent need to deploy technology to serve airline customers, save costs and to equip airline staff with effective technology to do their jobs better.”

In a survey of IT use among 121 airlines the main drivers for IT investment were reducing costs, 62 per cent; improving customer service, 54 per cent; enabling new market offerings and revenue opportunities, 45 per cent; and improving workforce productivity, 40 per cent.

Top investment areas included passenger processing and services, 63%; aircraft management /operations, 44 per cent; passenger security, 34 per cent; and employee security, 21 per cent.

Airlines are forecasting that while only one percent of passengers use mobile phones for check-in this will rise to six per cent next year by which time more than half of airlines will offer the service. This forecast suggests an evolution of self-service to mobile devices.

The following airline self-service initiatives are already in place: web check-in, 56 per cent; mobile phone check-in, 21 per cent; self-boarding kiosks, 21 per cent; online trip-change service, 25 per cent; and lost baggage self-service, 12 per cent.

“Among the record 121 airlines responding to this year’s survey, the online sales average is only 24 per cent with their own web site,” said Coby.

“A very important source of revenues is clearly being lost to those airlines not using web selling at a time when everyone in the industry needs to maximize returns on their IT spend. Selling online has already massively helped to drive down distribution costs, saving airlines in the region of $2bn.

“The adoption of the new generation Web 2.0 technology can deliver greater sales and greater savings across the industry, and better returns from the $11bn invested annually.”

Eighty-five per cent of the airlines responding to this year’s survey now provide passenger data to the world’s governments, up four per cent from last year. Of those providing data, 73 per cent provide to less than five governments and the remaining 26 per cent to six governments or more.