This is the fifth conversation in our 2025 Airline Leaders Series, produced in collaboration with our partners at 815Labs, whose continued support makes it possible for us to meet airline leaders in person and share their stories.
Today’s interview is a bit different from our usual digital-focused discussions. With Jason Ward, Vice President of Marketing and People at Azul Airlines, we explored the airline brand from a people and customer service perspective. It’s a conversation about empathy, culture, and leadership from one of the most experienced and knowledgeable figures in the airline industry, and a reminder that every great digital or marketing strategy still starts with customers and people.
Leader: Jason Ward
Airline: Azul Airlines
Role: Vice President of Marketing and People
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Talks about: Customer Service, People, Marketing, Loyalty, Brand, Technology
Why you need to watch this interview:
Jason Ward has one of the most unique leadership journeys in the airline industry. From starting his career in customer service at Morris Air, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue to later taking leadership roles at TAP Portugal and now leading both Marketing and People at Azul Airlines, his perspective connects every part of the airline experience, from the crew and culture behind the brand to the customers and communities it serves.
In this conversation, Jason shares how Azul builds loyalty through empathy and human touch, how its OPA (Observe, Perceive, Attend) framework shapes service, and why technology should enhance rather than replace the personal connection between crew members and customers. He also talks about Azul’s community-driven initiatives, including the airline’s role in “connecting the Amazon,” and the creative thinking behind its O Céu do Brasil é Azul (“The Sky of Brazil is Blue”) campaign.
If you’re interested in how culture, care, and purpose can define a brand just as much as data or design do, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.
Audio Interview
If you prefer the audio format, you can listen to the conversation on the Diggintravel Podcast:
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Here are five key insights from our conversation with Jason Ward. To fully understand how Azul Airlines blends culture, care, and community into its brand and customer experience, watch the full video or listen to the complete podcast episode.
At Azul, we created a great brand, and over the last few years, as we’ve focused a lot on the scheduling and the business side of it and the revenue side of it and getting involved, those expertise were focused there. And I personally felt that we had maybe lost a step with our brand and with that focus and attention to detail. So I talked with my colleagues and said, “Hey, how about if the marketing team comes with me to the customer experience side and let’s see if we can’t make sure that we don’t lose what we started and we worked so hard to create.”
So that’s where I think the product and the service comes together with the people, and that’s what truly makes the experience for our customers, both internal and external.
Why it matters:
Jason’s dual role leading both Marketing and People gives him a unique perspective on how internal culture drives external perception. He sees crew members and other front line employees as the real brand ambassadors, the ones who bring Azul’s promise to life every day. For him, great marketing starts inside the organization, with employees who feel valued, connected, and proud to represent the airline.
In an airline, mistakes are going to happen. Flights are going to be delayed, flights are going to be cancelled. You will be reaccommodated. You will miss an important meeting, perhaps, with your airline. But what is it that keeps you coming back? How do we treat you in those moments of contingency to where you needed help, you needed something?
I think it’s okay for us to say “I don’t know.” Just showing that empathy, I think that’s truly what people want. They love all the positive things about your brand and your product, and they want to go out there and they want to promote it. But I think what truly is what we’re after is that loyalty. And that’s why the loyalty programs are so incredible. That stickiness, how do we keep you within our ecosystem so that you’re not running off to the next best thing and all that? How do we keep our people with our tools and resources available and be as open and honest as we always should be with the information that we have as well?
Why it matters:
Jason’s view of loyalty goes beyond marketing tactics or points programs. For him, it’s about how an airline responds when things go wrong. Showing empathy, being honest, and simply acknowledging the customer’s frustration builds more trust than any scripted apology. At Azul, loyalty starts with care, transparency, and genuine human connection.
source: Azul Airlines Facebook
The phrase “OPA” came from observe, perceive, and then attend. In Portuguese, observar, perceber, atendir. So just observe what’s happening. What’s the situation? I speak a foreign language. I speak English, but I’ve learned Portuguese. A lot of speaking in a foreign language is about observing, like, what is the conversation? Who’s talking? What is he looking at? What are the surroundings? So just observe what’s happening, and then start to perceive, what are the possible solutions that could happen? And then attend to your customer. We tell the flight attendants, as customers are boarding, if they’re spinning and looking up, they’re obviously looking for a place to put their baggage, so offer a suggestion. “Can I help you with this? Are you looking for a bag?” That training came from, how do we truly treat the customer the way they want to be treated?
And it may be different. Today this lady’s traveling and she’s got a briefcase and she’s walking very briskly towards the counter, we know that she’s probably on a business trip, traveling by herself, and probably is mostly business today. But she could come back next month with family on a Friday night or Saturday with kids and a baby in a stroller and she’s got all the time in the world, but she needs to be attended a little differently than she was last month when she was traveling by herself. Each of us as human beings, we have different needs and wants depending on the situation that we’re around.
Why it matters:
OPA is a mindset that can be applied across the entire organization, including marketing. By observing, perceiving, and attending, Azul’s teams learn to recognize each customer’s context and respond accordingly. The same principle applies in marketing: knowing your customers, understanding their needs in each situation, and communicating in ways that feel personal and relevant. It’s a simple framework that connects empathy, observation, and action, whether at the check-in counter or in a campaign.
Someone once said AI will not replace us, but AI will replace those of us that don’t learn how to use AI. The beauty of what’s happening is that there’s always going to be new technology. But what we need to do is really understand, whether it’s your CRM tools or know-your-customer systems, how do we utilize technology to scan all the historical data, to do the predictive modeling? What is it we’re doing to help us better serve and give the customer the tools and resources that they need and want so that the experience with us is seamless?
Why it matters:
Jason sees technology as a way to remove friction. His vision of the future is one where airlines know their customers so well that travel feels seamless, with no repeated forms or unnecessary steps. Predictive data, smart CRM, and automation can make experiences like silent boarding or real-time baggage tracking a reality. But for Jason, technology is only valuable when it helps airlines serve customers better and allows employees to focus on what matters most: customer care and connection.
5. Community and purpose: Connecting the Amazon and celebrating Brazil?
During the pandemic, a lot of focus was really on sustainability, ESG, and a lot of people outside of Brazil were saying, ‘We’ve got to save the Amazon.’ In a conversation with John, our CEO, it was like, we’ve got to connect the Amazon. How can you save the Amazon if the Amazon’s not connected? How can we bring all these wonderful people together and help them sell their products and make something more easily scalable for them as well?”
One of our focuses of the last year was brasilidade or ‘Brazilness,’ really focusing on that. We want our customers to focus on Brazil and we want the world to focus on how great Brazil is. The country’s great, but the thing that’s better than the country are the Brasileiros.
Why it matters:
Azul’s O Céu do Brasil é Azul (“The Sky of Brazil is Blue”) campaign captured the spirit of the airline: connecting people and celebrating Brazil. Beyond a traditional ad, it turned real-time weather data into interactive storytelling. When the skies were blue in certain cities, digital billboards and TV weather segments invited travelers to scan QR codes and fly there. It was a smart mix of emotion, technology, and creativity that highlighted Azul’s role as a brand deeply rooted in community, innovation, and national pride.
If you want to learn from leaders like Jason about how to build authentic airline brand, innovative digital products or want to be the first to know when our next Airline Leaders Interview will be published, please:
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