United Airlines uses AWS Glue Data Catalog federation for Databricks data

United Airlines has implemented AWS Glue Data Catalog federation to connect its Amazon Redshift analytics service with Databricks Unity Catalog. This solution allows access to data managed by Databricks from Amazon Redshift without the need for data duplication or movement.

The airline processes vast amounts of data daily, spanning both Amazon Redshift and Databricks. Previously, analysts faced challenges querying data across these platforms, particularly accessing data residing in Databricks Unity Catalog directly from Amazon Redshift.

AWS Glue Data Catalog federation resolves this issue by enabling Amazon Redshift to query data stored in Amazon S3 directly. Metadata for these datasets is resolved from Unity Catalog at query time, eliminating the need to build complex data synchronization pipelines and preventing data duplication.

United Airlines utilizes this setup for analyses such as customer engagement patterns and website interaction. This integration significantly streamlines data analysis and accelerates decision-making processes.