Hexaware helped a leading US airline modernize its 40-year-old legacy crew scheduling application using RapidX™, achieving 50% faster specification crafting and significantly reducing SME dependency and modernization risk through agentic AI-powered SDLC automation.
Client
A US Airline
Our client is a leading airline committed to safety, innovation, and delivering a high-quality customer experience. They operate a broad network connecting numerous destinations and serve a large and diverse customer base, focusing on expanding connectivity and flexibility. Through strategic partnerships, they offer travellers extensive options and rewarding loyalty programs, becoming a trusted choice in the industry.
Challenge
Modernizing a 40-Year-Old Legacy Application
Our client’s main application for crew scheduling and in-flight operations depended heavily on tribal knowledge and a limited availability of the application’s subject matter experts (SMEs), which caused delays when problems arose.
The legacy application was connected to many other systems and couldn’t be updated independently without risking the entire IT setup.
Key application modernization blockers were:
- Multi-decade-old codebase of 40+ years, layered with technical debt
- Lack of documentation to understand functionality
- Manual extraction of business logic from code
Our client wanted to explore AI-powered tools to automate code discovery, accelerate reverse engineering, and reduce dependency on the application’s SMEs, especially as 100+ developers were previously involved in maintaining this application.
Solution
RapidX™ – An Agentic AI Platform for Legacy Application Modernization
Our client partnered with Hexaware to reimagine the legacy application modernization approach to leverage agentic AI in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Rather than working as a static tool, RapidX™ orchestrated context-aware agents that collaborated to decode legacy logic, align business and IT perspectives, and guide modernization decisions.
- AI Across Discovery and Reverse Engineering: Specialized AI agents auto-extracted business rules, uncovered dependencies, and generated explainable documentation—replacing months of manual SME effort.
- AI in Requirements and Design: Insight agents translated technical findings into intuitive, business-readable workflows, enabling IT and business teams to validate modernization specifications jointly.
- AI in Development and Testing: Dependency-mapping agents prioritized refactoring efforts and identified risk hotspots early, reducing rework and ambiguity downstream.
This continuous agentic collaboration allowed modernization teams to move with speed while maintaining accuracy and explainability.
Why RapidX Was the Right-Fit Accelerator
- Code Intelligence Beyond Parsing: Agents uncovered hidden logic, external dependencies, and incomplete loops through AI-driven pattern recognition.
- Narrative Insights for Decision-Makers: These Generated multi-level “stories” around code functionality, tracing clear business impact across modules.
- Entity Mapping at Scale: Knowledge Graph agents visualized interdependencies between entities, supporting precise impact analysis and risk planning.
- Business–Code Bridge: Complex legacy systems were translated into structured, simplified insights—empowering both business stakeholders and IT teams to align decisions faster.
Benefits
Faster Build for the New Application
50% Faster Modernization Specification Crafting
Drove the modernization in half the usual time.
60% Lower Application SME Dependency
Relied less on subject matter experts during modernization.
Significant Risk Reduction across the Modernization Lifecycle
Greatly lowered risks throughout the entire modernization process.
The Agentic AI Advantage
RapidX™ demonstrated that modernization success comes not from isolated automation but from orchestrated AI agents that work contextually across discovery, design, and development. By embedding business awareness and explainability at every stage, the airline achieved modernization that was faster, safer, and strategically aligned with enterprise goals.
Summary
Faster Toward the Future with AI-powered Solutions
Our client partnered with us in an agentic AI-first approach to their legacy application modernization journey. As an accelerator, RapidX™ redefined software engineering while modernizing our client’s complex app for crew scheduling and in-flight operations.
Our case study shows how the latest advancements in artificial intelligence reimagine how challenges are solved, products are developed, and value is achieved faster.
Bringing in precision with agentic AI for their SDLC workflow, fortified with Hexaware’s strategies, our client now has an application built to deliver value.
AI Builds, Maintains, and Modernizes with RapidX™
RapidX™ integrates AI into software development, driving AI-powered build, maintenance, and modernization. Learn more and begin your journey today.
