Scaling Data in Aviation: Inside Brussels Airlines’ Data Strategy - The Data Playbook Podcast with Kris Peeters & Tom Holsteens
The Data Playbook Podcast
<p><strong>How do you transform a broken data landscape into a scalable, self-service data platform?</strong></p>
<p>In this episode of <em>The Data Playbook</em>, Kris Peeters sits down with Tom Holsteens to unpack how Brussels Airlines rebuilt their data foundation from the ground up.</p>
<p>Coming out of the pandemic, the organisation faced a classic problem:</p>
<p>👉 A “spaghetti” data warehouse</p>
<p>👉 No ownership of data assets</p>
<p>👉 A central team becoming the bottleneck</p>
<p>What followed was a multi-year transformation focused on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Building a <strong>modern cloud data platform</strong></li>
<li>Moving to a <strong>data product architecture</strong></li>
<li>Enabling <strong>self-service analytics across teams</strong></li>
<li>Balancing <strong>central governance with decentral ownership</strong></li>
<li>Leveraging <strong>AI tools to empower non-technical users</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>💡 You’ll learn:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why most data platforms fail (and how to fix them)</li>
<li>How to introduce <strong>data ownership in business teams</strong></li>
<li>The real difference between <strong>controlling vs. BI</strong></li>
<li>How to reduce bottlenecks with <strong>hub-and-spoke models</strong></li>
<li>A real use case: <strong>cutting food waste by 30% with data</strong></li>
<li>Why <strong>perfect data quality is a myth</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>This is a must-watch for data leaders, engineers, and anyone scaling data in complex organisations.</p>
<p>👉 Subscribe for more episodes:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Dataminded" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/@Dataminded</a></p>
<p>👉 Listen on Spotify:</p>
<p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/your-podcast-link" rel="nofollow">https://open.spotify.com/show/your-podcast-link</a></p>
<p>👉 Explore more content & insights:</p>
<p><a href="https://dataminded.com" rel="nofollow">https://dataminded.com</a></p>
<p>Struggling with data bottlenecks, unclear ownership, or slow delivery?</p>
<p>👉 Explore our <strong>Data Product Workshop</strong>:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dataminded.com/what-we-do/data-product-workshop" rel="nofollow">https://www.dataminded.com/what-we-do/data-product-workshop</a></p>
<p>Turn your data landscape into a <strong>business accelerator</strong> with a shared framework, clear ownership, and hands-on guidance in just one day.</p>
<p><strong>Chapters </strong></p>
<p><strong>00:00</strong> Introduction & Brussels Airlines context<br><strong>02:30</strong> What is controlling vs. business intelligence?<br><strong>06:00</strong> The problem: “spaghetti” data warehouse & bottlenecks<br><strong>12:30</strong> The transformation: platform, operating model & group strategy<br><strong>19:00</strong> Hub-and-spoke model & self-service analytics<br><strong>27:30</strong> Data products & the “restaurant” analogy<br><strong>35:30</strong> AI, data analysts & scaling data adoption<br><strong>43:30</strong> Real impact: reducing waste & driving business value</p>