A leading international airline is on a mission to become a truly digital-first operation—delivering seamless, user-friendly experiences for both passengers and staff. A key pillar of its strategy is boosting internal digital dexterity by equipping frontline teams with intuitive, purpose-built tools.
One such tool, is a custom-built communication app powered by the Stream Chat API.
The app enables real-time, role-based messaging between operational teams: pilots, gate agents, ground staff, and cabin crew—all within a single, streamlined interface. What began as a proactive pitch is now a trusted tool transforming how operational teams coordinate, communicate, and deliver safe, on-time performance.
Key Benefits:
- Accelerated and more efficient communication
- Improved employee experience and reduced cognitive load
- High user trust and adoption across diverse roles
- Custom messaging UI backed by Stream's reliable infrastructure
The Challenge: Fragmented Communication Across Flight Operations
Operational coordination around aircraft turns involves numerous roles with critical responsibilities. Before implementing the chat app, teams relied on a fragmented mix of radios, aircraft messaging systems, and one-to-one phone conversations.
This led to:
- Messages being relayed multiple times
- Delayed or missed updates
- Lack of shared visibility across roles
- Communication becoming more of a burden than a benefit
As one senior architect described it:
"There was no shared picture. You couldn't always reach the right person at the right time, and messages were often missed or repeated."
The goal was to solve these inefficiencies by delivering timely, relevant information through shared channels—without increasing distraction or risk.
The Vision: Safe, On-Time Performance Through Smart Collaboration
In aviation, safety always comes first—followed closely by on-time performance. The team envisioned a platform that could accelerate coordination without compromising, ensuring that staff had the information they needed when they needed it.
The app was designed to:
- Enable multi-party collaboration across roles without relying on 1:1 handoffs
- Accelerate status updates and task delegation during time-sensitive phases like boarding and pushback
- Establish a shared source of truth through persistent message history and acknowledgment tracking
- Reduce radio congestion and duplicate outreach across teams
The initial focus? Solving boarding clearance coordination for one fleet—a deceptively complex task involving multiple parties. Once that use case proved successful, the model expanded rapidly across additional roles, regions, and aircraft types.
Why Stream?
From the earliest stages, Stream Chat stood out for its developer-first approach and transparent documentation.
According to the technical lead:
"The ability to customize users, channels, messages using attributes, and the power of webhooks made Stream the clear choice."
Key features that enabled the solution:
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Custom Attributes: Used to model roles, metadata, and permissions at the user, message, and channel level
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Webhook Events: A real-time firehose that powers role-based notifications, audit trails, and internal automations
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Low-Level SDKs: Swift and JavaScript clients allowed complete control over the front-end experience
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Backend Scalability: Stream's infrastructure handled metadata-rich queries and dynamic role switching with ease
Other vendors were evaluated, but none matched Stream's flexibility, performance, or developer experience.
The Solution: A Chat-First App Built Around Operational Team Workflows
Built on Stream's low-level iOS, Javascript, and Java (web) SDKs and integrated with a custom backend, the app creates ephemeral channels for each flight. Users are added dynamically based on their role and assignment, enabling timely collaboration and role-specific visibility.
Design Innovations:
- Message Cards: Predefined messages to improve efficiency
- Read-Only Roles: Some staff only require visibility, not participation. Custom roles ensure clarity without clutter
- Push Notification System: Built in-house using Stream data, this system filters alerts based on role and message type
- Custom UI: Developed with the airline's internal design framework for a seamless, brand-consistent user experience
"If people don't trust the app, they won't use it. Stream gives us the reliability and performance we need to earn that trust every day."
Developer Experience
The engineering team rapidly moved from browser-based prototypes to production-ready apps, iterating confidently thanks to Stream's robust architecture.
Tech Stack & SDKs:
- Swift (iOS)
- JavaScript
- Java backend
Custom Integration Highlights:
- Role-based user creation with dynamic custom attributes
- Granular push notification logic based on message content and channel context
- Real-time channel provisioning based on flight and operational team assignments
- Headless chat UI, fully integrated into the airline's internal systems
"We've likely pushed the complexity of our queries further than most users—but Stream helped us optimize them behind the scenes. That kind of support is rare."
Scalability & Reliability:
- No concerns with scale, latency, or availability
- Stream performance remained steady even under high metadata and channel load
Lessons Learned:
- Plan ahead for custom attribute structure and versioning
- Consider building a dedicated search layer for complex queries
- Be disciplined with extensibility—Stream gives you a lot of power, but you need to use it wisely
"Stream has been the best vendor experience I've ever had---from documentation to support to implementation."
Adoption and Cultural Shift
Unlike most enterprise apps, adoption wasn't mandated—it was requested. Teams approached the product team asking to join. Because the airline operates in a regulated environment, each rollout involved risk assessments, training, and phased deployment. But momentum continued to grow.
Impact:
- Reduced Noise: Less reliance on radios and repeated messages
- Faster Responsiveness: Lost items, updates, or delays are handled more quickly
- Organic Adoption: Internal demand continues to increase
- User Satisfaction: The term "game changer" is frequently used in feedback
Some users rely on the app only for awareness; others depend on it for time-critical communication. The familiar chat UI lowers the learning curve, while the structured design ensures it remains focused and purposeful.
Results
Though the team hasn't tracked hard metrics, the qualitative outcomes are clear:
- Faster Issue Resolution: For example, reuniting passengers with lost items before departure
- Reduced Redundancy: Shared visibility cuts down on repetitive check-ins
- Improved Morale: Staff report less stress and better awareness
- Cultural Alignment: The app reinforces a shared focus on safe, on-time performance
"We changed the psychology of how teams interact. It's more collaborative. Everyone's rowing in the same direction."
Looking Forward: The Future of the Stream Partnership
The team behind the app describes working with Stream as exceptional across the board:
"You get used to not-great vendor experiences. Stream was the opposite. They helped us make the case, guided the architecture, and even optimized our backend usage."
Even when challenges arose, such as complex metadata querying or backwards compatibility with custom attributes. Stream's support team responded with creative, actionable solutions.
As the app matures, the airline is exploring new capabilities:
- Role Mentions: Ensuring mission-critical messages are acknowledged by the right personas
- Campaigns API: Exploring large-scale announcements beyond flight-specific channels
- New Use Cases: Potential expansion to engineering, maintenance, or regional operations
- AI Assistants: Supporting decision-making and reducing message overload in the future
"We've built one app—but we see many more opportunities ahead. Stream gives us the platform to grow."
Final Takeaway
This airline's chat app is more than a tool—it's a shift in how people work together. Built on Stream Chat, it empowers operational teams to communicate faster, act with clarity, and work as one team.
In an industry where every second counts, that collaboration is mission-critical—and with Stream's platform, it all just works.