This study examines the strategic position of artificial intelligence (AI) in the airline industry and discusses whether AI is an independent strategy or a capacity that enables existing strategies such as cost leadership, differentiation, and agility/resilience. Given the challenges of creating a competitive advantage in a sector characterized by high fixed costs, tight regulations, and demand volatility, the contributions of AI in areas such as operational efficiency, customer experience, sustainability, and crisis management are critical. However, adoption remains limited in high-impact areas like pricing due to concerns about explainability, data costs, and competition law. This study fills a gap in the literature by developing a conceptual framework through eight propositions, thus positioning AI not as a strategy itself, but as an enabling capacity that strengthens existing strategies. While contributing theoretically to the literature, this approach also provides practical guidance to airline executives by proposing a roadmap based on data governance, MLOps integration, and ethical oversight.