For 85 years, Philippine Airlines has connected travelers to destinations across the globe. Now, the airline is preparing for a different kind of journey — one that is shaped by AI, changing customer expectations, and new ways of discovering travel.

As Assistant Vice President of Digital Marketing at Philippine Airlines, Emmanuel Cruz spends a lot of time thinking about how travelers interact with the airline online. His team oversees the airline’s website, mobile app, and social media channels, helping shape how customers engage with the brand at every stage of their journey.

“As the first airline in Asia, our heritage as the country’s flagship carrier is something we’re incredibly proud of,” says Cruz. “As traveler expectations continue to evolve, we see AI as an opportunity to create more seamless, personalized, and responsive experiences, helping us meet customers where they are while staying true to the care and hospitality that have always defined Philippine Airlines.”

One of the reasons Philippine Airlines has remained relevant for so long is its ability to adapt to what travelers need next. Today, that means understanding how customers discover information, what influences their decisions, and how digital channels can better support them. To drive that evolution, Philippine Airlines has invested in Adobe Experience Manager Sites, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target and, most recently, Adobe Journey Optimizer.

“With Adobe technology, we have the data and insights to make decisions based on customer behavior,” says Cruz. “That allows us to build experiences around what travelers actually need rather than what we assume they need.”

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A new way to discover travel.

While these insights tell Cruz how travelers interact with Philippine Airlines today, the bigger question is how they will discover the airline tomorrow. To find out, Cruz asked an AI assistant a simple question: “Can you tell me something about Philippine Airlines?”

The answer wasn’t perfect — but that was the point.

As large language models become part of everyday life, the airline needs to meet customers where they are with the information they need. Cruz and team are exploring Adobe Brand Visibility (formerly Adobe LLM Optimizer) as they look for ways to better understand and improve how the airline appears in AI-powered discovery experiences.

“Brand visibility takes on a different meaning in an AI environment,” he says. “Adobe AI technology will help us show up in a way that accurately reflects who we are and what we offer.”

From search to seat.

Discovery is only the beginning. Cruz believes AI has the potential to reshape the interactions that follow as well.

Take booking a flight. Today, customers often move through multiple screens before completing a purchase. Large language models and agentic AI could help simplify that process and reduce some of the friction travelers encounter along the way.

But bookings rarely happen in a single session. Travelers may research destinations, compare fares, leave the site, and return later to complete a purchase. They may come back again to manage an itinerary or prepare for an upcoming trip. Cruz sees great potential in AI making these interactions feel more connected and intuitive, helping travelers find what they need with less effort.

More destinations, more content.

The same technologies changing how people discover and book trips are also changing how marketing teams create and serve up content. As Philippine Airlines expands personalization efforts, there’s a growing need for creative assets to support more customer segments and more tailored experiences and for teams to quickly adapt those experiences for customers.

The airline is experimenting with Adobe Firefly Custom Models to meet content demands, evaluating how generative AI can help create airline-specific imagery while maintaining control over how the brand is represented.

Cruz is also enthusiastic about the potential of integrating Microsoft Copilot with Experience Manager Sites. By bringing content, data, and insights closer together, he sees this integration helping his team move more quickly from information to action.

For marketers responsible for engaging travelers across multiple channels, that combination is especially powerful. Firefly Custom Models could help teams create more of the assets they need, while Copilot could make it easier to adapt and activate those assets based on what they know about customers.

The heart of the journey.

For all the possibilities AI presents, Cruz remains focused on what makes Philippine Airlines distinctive. The company’s brand promise centers on what it calls “care that comes from the heart.”

Technology can help teams work more efficiently, but people still play an essential role in shaping customer experiences. “We make a conscious effort to bring that human element into everything we do, especially the content we create,” says Cruz.

That perspective also shapes how Cruz thinks about the future of marketing. As AI-powered discovery changes how people engage with brands, marketers will need to understand not only what customers are looking for, but also what information will be most useful to them.

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