Prague Airport, the busiest international hub in Czechia, stands at the vanguard of digital transformation as it navigates an era shaped by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. Handling more than 16 million passengers each year with projections rising as high as 18 million in the near future, the airport’s strategic aperture has shifted well beyond the tarmac. It aims not only to facilitate smooth passenger traffic but also to generate substantial revenue from non-aviation services and steer the development of its vision for an “Airport City.” At this crucial juncture, Prague Airport’s ambitious integration of Microsoft 365 Copilot—a cutting-edge AI assistant within Microsoft’s productivity suite—is reshaping how work is accomplished, with broad implications for the future of labor efficiency, regulatory compliance, and organizational culture in the aviation sector.
Central to Prague Airport’s modernization strategy is the belief that artificial intelligence, when deployed securely and thoughtfully, can become more than just a technological edge; it can serve as an organizational catalyst. “AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot can take over mundane tasks, like taking notes during meetings, freeing people to focus on the discussion and make decisions and that helps us advance on our strategic goals,” observes Ondřej Horký, M365 Team Leader at Prague Airport. This sentiment is increasingly echoed across industries, but the challenge is especially pronounced in the airport’s highly regulated, security-conscious domain.
The airport’s prior adoption of Microsoft 365 E3 provided fertile ground for secure innovation. With features such as advanced threat protection, encrypted communications, and comprehensive compliance tools, Microsoft’s enterprise-grade environment offered a framework in which Copilot could be introduced with minimum disruption and maximum reassurance. “Because Copilot is built on services we already trust, it was much easier to make the case for our cybersecurity team,” Janeček affirms, highlighting the pragmatic advantage of leveraging platforms already trusted by both users and IT.
This shift was catalyzed by a deliberate, phased approach. “We saw tremendous potential in AI and decided to pursue it. The fact that we became one of the first organizations to adopt this approach demonstrates that we are on the right path and succeeding,” explains Tomáš Brožek, M365 System Engineer. The aviation world, typically slower to experiment given safety considerations, might seem an unlikely testbed for AI innovation; yet, precisely because the stakes are so high, the airport prioritized making AI the “first option, not the last resort.”
This bottom-up approach proved instrumental as early adopters from a wide cross-section of departments were invited to experiment, provide feedback, and inspire broader buy-in. By populating the initial user group with employees representing diverse functions, the airport ensured that the new AI tools addressed a spectrum of real-world use cases rather than abstract, hypothetical scenarios.
Let’s put this in context. Across a core group of 300+ Copilot-enabled employees, saving up to two hours per week translates into hundreds of hours reclaimed every month—time that can be redirected towards strategic priorities, passenger service, or critical problem-solving. As adoption expands toward the airport’s full population of 4,000 employees (and potentially within its larger 14,000-person ecosystem), the aggregate impact of such productivity gains could reshape organizational effectiveness and set new benchmarks for the aviation sector at large.
For IT leaders, the case study highlights the indispensable value of:
The lessons learned offer a blueprint for organizations looking to blend human expertise with digital intelligence without sacrificing oversight, security, or workplace satisfaction. At a time when efficiency is no longer a luxury but a baseline expectation, Prague Airport’s AI journey is both a beacon and a benchmark—charting a course toward an aviation future where people, empowered by AI, drive exponential value across both digital runways and concrete ones.
Source: Microsoft Prague Airport improves productivity by bringing AI into everyday work with Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Customer Stories
The Digital Concourse: AI’s Strategic Arrival
Central to Prague Airport’s modernization strategy is the belief that artificial intelligence, when deployed securely and thoughtfully, can become more than just a technological edge; it can serve as an organizational catalyst. “AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot can take over mundane tasks, like taking notes during meetings, freeing people to focus on the discussion and make decisions and that helps us advance on our strategic goals,” observes Ondřej Horký, M365 Team Leader at Prague Airport. This sentiment is increasingly echoed across industries, but the challenge is especially pronounced in the airport’s highly regulated, security-conscious domain.Security: The Non-Negotiable Foundation
Engaging with AI in aviation’s complex regulatory environment brings heightened scrutiny around data security, privacy, and risk management. The specter of accidental data exposure, potentially catastrophic in an industry where information flows must be tightly controlled, loomed over the early stages of Prague Airport’s AI adoption. As Marek Janeček, Chief Information Officer, recalls, “Employees were already seeing AI tools emerge and looking for ways to use them. We knew we had to provide a secure, sanctioned solution—otherwise, they would’ve found their own workarounds.” This perspective underlines a critical tension confronting digital leaders: balancing the unbridled promise of new technologies with non-negotiable mandates for robust security and regulatory alignment.The airport’s prior adoption of Microsoft 365 E3 provided fertile ground for secure innovation. With features such as advanced threat protection, encrypted communications, and comprehensive compliance tools, Microsoft’s enterprise-grade environment offered a framework in which Copilot could be introduced with minimum disruption and maximum reassurance. “Because Copilot is built on services we already trust, it was much easier to make the case for our cybersecurity team,” Janeček affirms, highlighting the pragmatic advantage of leveraging platforms already trusted by both users and IT.
Change Management: Building Momentum, Not Just Capacity
Perhaps the most underappreciated element of any technological adoption is not the software itself, but rather the willingness and ability of people to use it. Embedding Copilot into daily workflows at Prague Airport required a holistic approach to change management—one where technical enablement and cultural transformation went hand in hand.This shift was catalyzed by a deliberate, phased approach. “We saw tremendous potential in AI and decided to pursue it. The fact that we became one of the first organizations to adopt this approach demonstrates that we are on the right path and succeeding,” explains Tomáš Brožek, M365 System Engineer. The aviation world, typically slower to experiment given safety considerations, might seem an unlikely testbed for AI innovation; yet, precisely because the stakes are so high, the airport prioritized making AI the “first option, not the last resort.”
Training the AI Workforce: From Digital Ambassadors to Everyday Experts
Prague Airport’s commitment to maximizing the benefits of Copilot was buttressed by a comprehensive support infrastructure. Working alongside SoftwareOne, the airport developed dedicated internal Copilot resources, including custom websites, robust training modules, and a series of immersive workshops. These resources were amplified through a digital ambassador program—staff members, already familiar with Microsoft 365 services from earlier adoption phases, were empowered to guide peers, troubleshoot issues, and champion the case for Copilot-driven efficiency.This bottom-up approach proved instrumental as early adopters from a wide cross-section of departments were invited to experiment, provide feedback, and inspire broader buy-in. By populating the initial user group with employees representing diverse functions, the airport ensured that the new AI tools addressed a spectrum of real-world use cases rather than abstract, hypothetical scenarios.
AI in Action: Transforming Everyday Workflows
With more than 300 employees now wielding Microsoft 365 Copilot—each able to securely handle sensitive information without ever straying from familiar applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Power BI—the AI-infused workplace is no longer a futuristic ideal, but a thriving reality within Prague Airport.Unleashing Productivity: Everyday Wins
Some of the most impactful use cases are both immediately practical and widely applicable across industries:- Automated Meeting Notes: Instead of scrambling to capture details during meetings, employees rely on Copilot within Teams to generate thorough, accurate summaries that can be reviewed, edited, and distributed post-session.
- Streamlined Email Management: Copilot drafts and triages Outlook emails, helping staff keep pace with overwhelming inboxes—critical in an environment where split-second decisions often hinge on rapid, clear communication.
- Intelligent Document Search: By leveraging Copilot’s smart search capabilities, employees quickly surface relevant files or data, sidestepping laborious manual lookups.
- Summarization Tools: In fast-paced, cross-functional organizations like Prague Airport, the ability to rapidly review past communications, proposals, and reports provides a vital informational edge in meetings and negotiations.
Beyond Basics: Turning Complexity Into Opportunity
The integration of advanced Azure AI Services signals Prague Airport’s intent to transcend routine productivity gains and address more complex operational challenges:- Customer Feedback Analysis: Using natural language models to classify and analyze feedback from the airport’s many restaurants and retail spaces, teams extract actionable insights by category (food quality, taste, quantity, type). Plans are in place to automate this process fully—setting the stage for faster, data-driven improvements in passenger experience.
- Document Processing Automation: With Azure AI Vision, the airport accelerates the extraction and classification of data from a wide array of documents. Extracted data feeds directly into structured formats (e.g., SharePoint lists), where it can trigger a multitude of workflow automations through Azure Logic Apps.
Custom AI Agents: The Rise of the Digital Colleague
By cultivating a culture in which teams are encouraged to build their own AI agents, Prague Airport has empowered its workforce to solve unique challenges with unprecedented speed. Notable examples include:- Document Retrieval Bot: One department implemented a SharePoint-based AI agent capable of fetching relevant documents in response to plain-language queries. For document-heavy functions such as legal, HR, or compliance, this can be a game changer.
- Procedural Chatbots: Another team, faced with voluminous rulebooks on equipment and aircraft repair, developed a chat-style interface enabling staff to interact with these documents dynamically, reducing downtime and error rates during maintenance.
Measurable Outcomes: Productivity Redefined
The ultimate litmus test for any digital transformation is not technological sophistication, but quantifiable results. According to Janeček, “Our staff reported a boost in task efficiency and saved up to two hours a week with Microsoft 365 Copilot. In an organization of our size, that alone justified the investment, and adoption has only grown since, likely pushing those numbers even higher.”Let’s put this in context. Across a core group of 300+ Copilot-enabled employees, saving up to two hours per week translates into hundreds of hours reclaimed every month—time that can be redirected towards strategic priorities, passenger service, or critical problem-solving. As adoption expands toward the airport’s full population of 4,000 employees (and potentially within its larger 14,000-person ecosystem), the aggregate impact of such productivity gains could reshape organizational effectiveness and set new benchmarks for the aviation sector at large.
Financial Implications
With increasing pressure on airports globally to diversify revenue streams and maximize operational efficiency, digital productivity gains directly influence the bottom line. While hard return-on-investment (ROI) numbers are closely guarded, industry benchmarks for AI-driven productivity tools typically point to significant cost savings—particularly when paired with reduced IT incidents, streamlined compliance, and improved employee satisfaction. Given the scale of Prague Airport’s workforce, even conservative time-saving estimates would yield seven-figure savings annually.Critical Analysis: Strengths and Risks
The narrative of AI adoption at Prague Airport, while overwhelmingly positive, is not without its inherent complexities and potential hazards. A critical forensic lens is necessary to fully appreciate both the upside and the cautionary signals.Notable Strengths
- Enterprise-Grade Security Embedded From the Outset: By anchoring its AI journey in a secure, compliance-forward Microsoft ecosystem, Prague Airport avoided the pitfalls of ad-hoc, “shadow IT” experimentation that could expose sensitive data.
- Localization and Accessibility: Effective Czech-language support ensured immediate usability for non-English speakers, a lesson for multinational organizations whose digital journeys may be hobbled by language barriers.
- Bottom-Up Innovation: The empowerment of digital ambassadors and the embrace of distributed, team-driven AI solutions fostered genuine engagement and minimized resistance to change—a model that can be replicated in other large, complex organizations.
- Measurable, Scalable Benefits: Early productivity results and the ability to scale best practices and tools reinforce the case for continued investment.
Potential Risks and Caveats
- Security Is a Moving Target: While current implementations benefit from robust Microsoft security infrastructure, the risk landscape in aviation (including threats from state actors, sophisticated cybercriminals, and insider threats) necessitates perpetual vigilance. Regular security audits, rigorous change management, and transparency remain essential.
- Overreliance on AI for Sensitive Decisions: Automated meeting notes, document classification, and feedback analysis are powerful—but unchecked, AI-generated outputs may introduce bias or errors if not properly reviewed by humans. Safeguards and ongoing training must reinforce the principle that AI augments, rather than replaces, expert judgment.
- Change Fatigue: As digital transformations proliferate, organizations risk overwhelming staff with back-to-back waves of new tools, capabilities, and expectations. Sustained engagement, clear communication, and incremental rollouts counteract fatigue and foster resilient adoption.
- Skill Gaps and Brain Drain: While AI democratizes certain technical tasks, there is always the danger of eroding vital institutional knowledge if organizations become too reliant on automation at the expense of foundational expertise.
Wider Implications: What Prague Airport’s Example Means for Others
Prague Airport’s journey is emblematic of a larger trend among international airports and logistics hubs worldwide. As passenger volumes, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory pressures intensify, the need for scalable, secure AI-driven productivity solutions is rapidly becoming non-negotiable. Microsoft 365 Copilot, with its deep integration into ubiquitous productivity apps, is uniquely poised to satisfy this demand—yet its success will depend not just on technical capabilities, but on organizations’ capacity to orchestrate holistic, people-centered change.For IT leaders, the case study highlights the indispensable value of:
- Laying a secure, compliant technological foundation before introducing AI.
- Investing in localized (language-specific) and department-tuned tools to maximize adoption.
- Structuring change management as a shared journey, building peer support networks.
- Measuring and publicly sharing productivity impacts to sustain momentum and secure executive backing.
Conclusion: Reimagining the Airport Workplace
The transformation underway at Prague Airport demonstrates how artificial intelligence, tethered to the right strategy, can catalyze new standards of productivity, security, and employee engagement across one of the world’s most complex operational environments. By making Copilot and related Azure tools inseparable from the daily routines of its staff, the airport is not merely reacting to technological change—it is defining what the modern airport workplace can become.The lessons learned offer a blueprint for organizations looking to blend human expertise with digital intelligence without sacrificing oversight, security, or workplace satisfaction. At a time when efficiency is no longer a luxury but a baseline expectation, Prague Airport’s AI journey is both a beacon and a benchmark—charting a course toward an aviation future where people, empowered by AI, drive exponential value across both digital runways and concrete ones.
Source: Microsoft Prague Airport improves productivity by bringing AI into everyday work with Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Customer Stories
