GDS (Global Distribution System) News

April 5, 2012

Blue Islands Implements Highest Level Participation Agreement with Amadeus

AirKiosk system customer Blue Islands, a regional carrier operating from the Channel Islands, has successfully completed a connection with Amadeus at the highest level of participation.

The new link for Blue Islands between the AirKiosk system and Amadeus includes Amadeus Active Sell, Amadeus Active Update and IATA ET (Electronic Ticketing). The link employs a direct line between the AirKiosk and Amadeus systems, carrying EDIFACT and AIRIMP messages.

Amadeus Active Sell, also called Interactive Sell, allows travel agents to access and book Blue Islands seats in real time, eliminating booking errors caused by delays in the update of seat availability displays inherent with the Type B traffic used in Standard Participation Agreements.

Amadeus Active Update, also called Dynamic Schedule, allows Blue Islands to update its schedule in Amadeus directly, in real time, eliminating the delays of schedule updates performed through third parties such as OAG and Innovata.

IATA ET is the industry standard for paperless ticketing through traditional distribution channels.

Blue Islands has been an AirKiosk system user since 2005, when it was established by Healthspan. In 2011 Blue Islands became an independent company.

Blue Islands is the premier low fare airline operating flights between the Channel Islands and to destinations in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, including London City, Manchester, the Isle of Man, Zurich and Geneva.

The AirKiosk system is a complete reservations solution for airlines, providing inventory and distribution management with integrated E-ticketing, frequent flyer programs, data warehousing, online payment solutions and seat selection and check-in, both online and at the airport.

AirKiosk, AirCashier, AirXML, DataRunway, AirSQL and DepartureKiosk are trademarks of Sutra Inc.

Playing Chicken with Airline Distribution Channels

January 11, 2011

The New Year began with the most significant travel distribution news in at least a decade, some “fireworks” which will have a dramatic influence on the airline and travel markets.

For some time, American Airlines has been talking about the revival of direct distribution channels, including direct distribution to travel agencies, and it didn’t hide its effort to develop a new API for this channel based on XML messaging. Sometime last year, American was ready with its API and began to launch its challenge.

As American’s contracts with major Online Travel Agencies (OTA) began coming up for renewal, American dared to suggest to the OTA companies that the link to its schedule and fares should be “direct connect” to American’s reservation system, instead of through the old fashioned (and costly) GDS technologies and protocols.

In late December 2010, announcing it was unable to reach an agreement with Orbitz to implement a direct connect link, American removed its fares from the Orbitz website.

In an odd display of comradeship, Orbitz competitor Expedia responded on New Year’s Day by removing American flights from its website. Then, within a week, Sabre, American’s largest GDS partner (and a former subsidiary) downgraded American flights in its displays, increased American’s fees, and moved to bring an early end to its distribution agreement with American.

It is not as if direct distribution was unknown in the industry before this event, nor as if many airlines don’t have a preference for direct Internet distribution over distribution through intermediaries such as the GDS companies. But the fact that a major, global carrier decided to break out of the “sacred” chain of Airline–>GDS–>OTA, meant that, after all, this chain may not be as indispensable as the GDS and OTA companies want us to believe.

News coverage, quoting a variety of industry personalities (aligned in some way with the GDS and OTA companies), has primarily portrayed American’s stand for direct connection as “a new model that is anti-consumer and anti-choice.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the ability of a travel website to display an airline’s fares using a direct connection to the airline’s database is what allows consumers to see the most up-to-date information, including fares which may be available on the airline website but have still not been loaded in the GDS databases.

Strangely enough, the direct connect model is already deployed by many OTA companies to display the fares of airlines not present in the GDS databases. Consumers have benefited, not been harmed, by this. American’s proposal does not introduce any new policy, and certainly no technology hurdle, to the OTA business.

But American is now the most illustrious airline to insist on bypassing the GDS model.

In my opinion, American Airlines is being discriminated against, if not bullied, in an attempt by the GDS and OTA companies to prevent a domino effect of other global airlines going in the same direction.

But the GDS and OTA companies are on the losing end of this battle. Since the creation of the World Wide Web, the implementation of direct connectivity between the source of information and its end users has been inevitable. It was just a matter of time before the major airlines would begin to fully embrace the potential of the Internet. And consumers will benefit.

Happy New Year. It is already looking like an interesting one.

Novak

Volagratis, AirKiosk System Link

March 28, 2009

AirKiosk System customer Blu-Express.com on BravoFly.com

Cheap fares from Rome, with Blu-express on BravoFly.com

Flights of Blu-Express.com, the low-cost brand of Blue Panorama Airlines, are now available for sale through BravoFly.com using an AirXML Service link between the popular travel booking site and the AirKiosk Internet Reservations System.

Blue Panorama Airlines organized the connection project, marking another milestone in its innovation of low-cost distribution strategies.

“We are very pleased with the link between our AirKiosk AirXML and Volagratis, which powers the BravoFly site,” said George Michalopoulos, Commercial Director of Blu-Express.com. “The AirXML API, which has become a cornerstone of our distribution strategy, once again has proven highly reliable and easy for customers to link to.”

Volagratis developers took advantage of the full suite of AirXML API transactions – from realtime fares availability to direct payment option – to build the link, a process completed within few weeks.

The Volagratis link to Blu-Express.com flights is direct, involving no third-party databases or systems.

“The savings for airlines here is remarkable,” said Novak Niketic, President of AirKiosk System and AirXML Service provider Sutra, Inc. “When an airline’s link to a travel site does not go through GDS processing, at least nine dollars per roundtrip ticket is eliminated,” he said.

Even more important, Niketic noted, is that airlines do not need to dedicate scarce resources to keeping intermediate systems such as OAG and ATPCO synchronized with daily fare changes driven by revenue management in the AirKiosk System.

Blue Panorama, Italy’s second largest long-haul carrier, launched the Blu-Express.com brand in November 2005 with the AirKiosk System as its solution for inventory, distribution and revenue management. Blu-express.com is the only low-cost airline based at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

The AirXML Service has become a major factor in travel distribution since its introduction in September 2006, directly connecting travel agency, corporate and special-interest websites with the realtime fares display and booking of airlines using the AirKiosk System.

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Sources: Sutra, Inc. and Blue Panorama Airlines S.p.A.

Expedia, AirKiosk System Link

February 23, 2009

Cheap fares from Rome, with Blu-express on Expedia.it

Flights of Blu-Express.com, the low-cost brand of Blue Panorama Airlines, are now available for sale through Expedia using an AirXML Service link between the popular travel booking site and the AirKiosk Internet Reservations System.

Blue Panorama Airlines organized the connection project, marking another milestone in its innovation of low-cost distribution strategies.

“We are very pleased with the launch of our AirKiosk AirXML link to Expedia,” said George Michalopoulos, Commercial Director of Blu-Express.com. “The AirXML API, which has become a cornerstone of our distribution strategy, once again has proven highly reliable and easy for customers to link to.”

Expedia developers took advantage of the full suite of AirXML API transactions – from realtime fares availability to direct electronic ticketing – to build the link, a process completed within 30 days.

The Expedia link to Blu-Express.com flights is direct, involving no third-party databases or systems.

“The savings for airlines here is remarkable,” said Novak Niketic, President of AirKiosk System and AirXML Service provider Sutra, Inc. “When an airline’s link to a travel site does not go through GDS processing, at least nine dollars per roundtrip ticket is eliminated,” he said.

Even more important, Niketic noted, is that airlines do not need to dedicate scarce resources to keeping intermediate systems such as OAG and ATPCO synchronized with daily fare changes driven by revenue management in the AirKiosk System.

Blue Panorama, Italy’s second largest long-haul carrier, launched the Blu-Express.com brand in November 2005 with the AirKiosk System as its solution for inventory, distribution and revenue management. Blu-express.com is the only low-cost airline based at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

The AirXML Service has become a major factor in travel distribution since its introduction in September 2006, directly connecting travel agency, corporate and special-interest websites with the realtime fares display and booking of airlines using the AirKiosk System.

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Sources: Sutra, Inc. and Blue Panorama Airlines S.p.A.

Aerocontractors Ready With IATA E-Ticketing, Interactive GDS Participation

March 16, 2008

			Home page of the Aerocontractors of Nigeria website powered by AirKiosk systems.

AirKiosk system implementation of Amadeus Active Sell Completes Airline’s IET Capability

An AirKiosk system link to Amadeus Active Sell (AAS) has been completed for Aerocontractors, Nigeria’s premier regional airline. AAS is the highest level of Amadeus GDS participation, allowing Amadeus Travel Agents to query availability and book flights managed in the AirKiosk reservations system in realtime. The Amadeus connection follows completion in 2007 of a link between Aerocontractors’ AirKiosk system and the Worldspan IET Interchange solution. Together, the developments allow Aerocontractors to continue interline sales with its major partners and sell to travel agencies using the IATA BSP, in line with the IATA mandate for 100% electronic ticketing by June 1, 2008.

“This is a major milestone, both for Aerocontractors’ interline partnerships and expansion of GDS sales,” said Mark Snoxell, Aerocontractors Business Development Director. “The AirKiosk system team’s expertise and work with our other partners was a key to getting this accomplished ahead of deadline.”

The AirKiosk system has provided electronic ticketing since 2002. When the IATA BSP service is used by airlines for ticket issue and settlement, exchanging this electronic information requires realtime connections with each of the airline and GDS systems involved, based on Type A Host-to-Host protocols and EDIFACT message structures.

Aerocontractors’ Worldspan IET Interchange project was started in June 2007 with the help of KLM, a major Aerocontractor interline partner. In order to activate the Worldspan link with KLM, Aerocontractors also needed to increase its participation level in Amadeus, which provides inventory and reservations management for KLM.

“We are now looking forward to activating interline agreements based on IATA e-ticketing with our partners Air France and British Airways,” Snoxell said.

About Aerocontractors

Aerocontractors is Nigeria’s leading airline, flying regionally and connecting international passengers through interline agreements with KLM, Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic. Founded in 1959 to serve the oil and gas industries, Aerocontractors began scheduled operations for the public in 2002, implementing the AirKiosk system. Aerocontractors was the first airline in West Africa to offer booking through the Internet. Aerocontractors is one of only two airlines recommended by the U.S. and British governments for air travel in Nigeria based on its high safety standards and reliability. Aerocontractors is owned by Nigerian investors and CHC Helicopter Corporation of Canada.

Online booking of Aerocontractors flights is available on their website www.flyaero.com.

About the AirKiosk System

The AirKiosk system is an integrated travel inventory, reservations, passenger and revenue management solution which allows for both direct sales and distribution through indirect channels, such as GDS companies using industry connectivity standards and the online travel trade, using XML links. Developed and owned by Sutra, Inc. based in Massachusetts, the AirKiosk system has been in use by airlines around the world since 1999.

About IATA E-Ticketing

In 2004 IATA imposed a deadline of December, 31 2007 for 100% use of IATA-standard electronic tickets within the IATA BSP, a payment settlement service used by 60,000 travel agencies outside of the United States.

However, the IATA e-ticket standards were not complete at the time, and only the largest airlines allied with the four large GDS companies, Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan, were able to confirm implementation of some kind of IATA e-ticketing support by that deadline. The cost of the projects to reach compliance were estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, compliance mandated participating in GDS companies at the highest levels requiring additional projects, subject to long, advance GDS scheduling times, for many airlines. Under pressure from member airlines IATA extended the deadline to May 31, 2008.

About GDS Distribution Options

Flights available to travel agencies using the GDS intermediary systems are based on links between the airlines’ inventory management systems and the GDS reservations networks.

There are different types of links, with varying functionality, defined by participation agreements between each airline and GDS company. The major concerns for airlines using the GDS networks are the high costs involved and the timely receipt of payments from agencies selling their tickets. Key options for airlines considering GDS use are:

- Link Level. IATA AIRIMP messages over Type B transmission, which is not a real-time link, but relies on the exchange of inter-system messages for accurate flight availability. Or, EDIFACT messages over Type A transmission, which is a realtime link ensuring accurate availability displays.

- Ticket Issue/Settlement. Ticket issue through the GDS system, in which payment is taken by the agency and must be later collected by the airline, through a service such as IATA BSP. Or, “Guaranteed Sell,” in which tickets are issued by the airline’s own system upon direct payment to the airline by credit or debit card.

For more information about the AirKiosk solution for airline reservations and distribution management, please contact us.

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Sources:

Sutra, Inc.
Aero Contractors of Nigeria

MAT Macedonian Modernizes with AirKiosk System

November 5, 2007

			Home page of the new MAT Macedonian Airlines website powered by AirKiosk systems.

NATIONAL CARRIER LAUNCHES INTERNET RESERVATIONS

MAT Macedonian Airlines joins the world of travel e-commerce today with the introduction of direct online reservations. The AirKiosk Web Booking solution for MAT Macedonian Airlines features the popular AirKiosk Low Fare Finder, an instant calendar-based view of realtime fares availability. MAT Macedonian Airlines customers can now book and pay for their selected flights, change their bookings, and view and print their travel details through the airline’s website.

Like most national carriers, MAT Macedonian Airlines established and grew its business using legacy systems and GDS travel agency distribution. But with increasing demand from customers who want to book and manage their own travel, the airline needed a modern solution for direct sales and self-service.

“Europe is getting smaller, and airlines in regions traditionally denied access to modern reservations solutions are finding it more difficult to compete for travelers who prefer shopping and buying tickets online. MAT Macedonian Airlines’ management recognized there are dramatic savings in direct selling, savings they can pass on to their customers,” said Novak Niketic, president of AirKiosk System provider Sutra, Inc. “Going the route of GDS-based travel sites such as Opodo, Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, was too expensive, cumbersome and did not offer the same service levels MAT Macedonian Airlines can provide directly to their valued frequent passengers.”

MAT Macedonian Airlines’ AirKiosk system-powered website is the first implementation of a new AirKiosk ASP service option which allows airlines to introduce Internet sales quickly and with minimum effort while still hosting on a legacy system platform. Flights from Skopje and Ohrid to Istanbul and Vienna are currently offered on the airline’s website.

“This is a great first step for a carrier unable to migrate in one step to a modern system,” Niketic said.

The AirKiosk system has provided airlines with an ahead-of-the-art reservations, distribution, revenue and passenger management solution at low cost since 1999.

MAT Macedonian Airlines is the national flag carrier of the Republic of Macedonia, operating 25,000 flights for more than 3.5 million passengers since its establishment.

Sources:

Sutra, Inc.
MAT Macedonian Airlines

Avoid “Big Name” Vendor Nightmares

May 11, 2007

UPDATED

			“We have written off $9 million spent on a new reservations system that may never see the light of day.” - Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey “Without Reservations” Air Transport World, April 2007

IF LOW COST AIRLINES LOSE MILLIONS ON A RESERVATIONS SYSTEM, IS IT NEWS?

Last January Canada’s premier low cost carrier, WestJet, warned shareholders it may write down $30 million invested in a new reservations system purchased from a major airline IT vendor. Because after years of development, the system still cannot be used by Westjet.

In April, Air Transport World magazine reported “the troubles were not over” for the new system. The CEO of another early customer, Virgin Blue, told a press conference “we have written off $9 million spent on a new reservations system that may never see the light of day.”

While the system’s problems have slowly become industry news, we could not find this acknowledged on the websites of either the big name IT vendor or its India-based software development partner. Promotion of the new system citing Westjet as the “launch customer” continues.

Are airline losses of millions of dollars because of an IT vendor news? Novak Niketic says this is not only big news, it is a critical lesson for all airlines.

Why was WestJet planning a change in reservations systems in the first place?

WestJet was looking for a new system in 2003 because it wanted functions its current software, Open Skies, didn’t provide: a website which can display multiple fares, process online changes and sell optional services, and the support of interlining. WestJet, like several other airlines we spoke to that year, was also concerned that Navitaire had turned its development focus from the Open Skies platform to building a Microsoft-based system.

With that concern, WestJet decided to become a customer for “a new product that hasn’t been used by an airline before,” as a WestJet spokesman told the Dow Jones news service. Our guess is WestJet made this decision in part because a big name in the industry is backing the Indian developer.

But the system hasn’t been delivered as agreed?

Apparently not. That’s why WestJet suspended the contract and issued its warning of a potential $30 million loss to shareholders.

This isn’t just big news, we think all airlines can learn some critical lessons from it.

What will WestJet do?

WestJet has extended its agreement to use the Open Skies system with the promise Open Skies will be upgraded to allow for interlining, multiple fare displays and online changes. WestJet told the Dow Jones news service it has no specific date for these upgrades, but they would be “functional well before [the big name vendor's system] would have been up and running.”

That begs a question. Your AirKiosk system has provided all of these functions since the time WestJet was looking for a replacement. Why didn’t WestJet choose the AirKiosk system?

When we spoke to the WestJet team they were intent on owning and maintaining their reservations software at the source-code level. That was a mistake many legacy airlines made, and have spent years reversing. We told the WestJet team this and it was probably not what they wanted to hear in 2003.

But we also don’t think that completely answers the question. Why would an airline turn away from a proven, low-cost solution in order to invest years and millions in something that didn’t exist?

We see every day that airline management continues to be vulnerable to the old school IT mentality that “more expensive must be better.” This plays to the “strengths” of traditional suppliers, they are very expensive.

Even when they don’t deliver…?

We see many big name vendors announce “new systems.” Although we think they are taking tremendous risks with their reputations, we guess they have to.

Traditional suppliers have been hard hit by the rise of low cost carriers and, worse, the desire of traditional carriers to adopt LCC innovations. These suppliers struggle to keep up with the functionality needed for the modern airline model, and they can’t match the cost structure of solutions like the AirKiosk system, which was built for this model.

We see these suppliers buying as much time as they can to try to realign all airlines with a high-cost, complex way of doing business.

What they have on their side are such large marketing and legal budgets that they can dominate every forum and industry organization. Only time will tell if any vendor can afford the remarkable arrogance of selling solutions which do not work at the expense of airline shareholders.

What do airlines do to avoid being raked over the coals?

Blue Islands Ups The Ante

December 15, 2006

“Fighting long-standing, state-owned airlines is not an experience reserved only for low-fare carriers.” Regional Airline World November 2006

AirKiosk System Helps Independent Provide
Better Service at Lower Cost

Blue Islands is beating the odds against a tax-payer funded competitor, Aurigny Air Services, as featured in Regional Airline World magazine.

Blue Islands’ parent Healthspan Limited began its innovative campaign with a migration to the AirKiosk solution in April 2006. This ensured Blue Islands’ inventory, reservations and revenue management system could support the launch of new destinations, larger aircraft (Jetstream 32), and passenger self-service features such as online booking change, which Blue Islands provides free of fees.

A key element of Blue Islands’ strategy is its “Business Advantage” program, enabled by the AirKiosk system’s functions for private web booking pages and microsites. “Business Advantage” allows loyal Blue Islands’ corporate customers to book negotiated fares directly through its website. In addition, Blue Islands has opened free lounges for its passengers.

“Despite all these benefits,” writes Regional Airline World, Blue Islands’ fares are still lower than Aurigny’s.

The AirKiosk system has provided airlines with an ahead-of-the-art inventory, reservations and revenue management solution at low cost since 1999.

Blue Islands, formerly Rockhopper, has served the Channel Islands in competition with Guernsey-owned Aurigny Air Services since 1999.

Sources:
Regional Airline World
Sutra, Inc.

AirSea Lines to Expand Sales with AirKiosk System

November 5, 2006

Europe’s Only Scheduled Seaplane Operator Announces New Systems, Expansion Plans at World Travel Market in London

AirSea Lines is launching a redesigned website, one of several expansion initiatives, at the World Travel Market Exhibition in London (November 6-9, 2006). The new website introduction includes demonstrations of online reservations powered by the AirKiosk system.

The AirKiosk solution “provides the company with a state-of-the-art reservation system capable of meeting our needs now and well into the future,” AirSea Lines says. “In addition to reservations the system generates passenger and operations data critical to the revenue management and scheduling programs operated by the company.”

AirSea Lines is implementing the AirKiosk system for inventory, distribution and passenger management, as it steps up the use of its website as a primary sales, marketing and communications tool for both consumers and the travel trade.

The only scheduled service seaplane operator in Europe, AirSea Lines flies to nine destinations in Greece and Italy, and plans to expand operations with services to the UK in the near future.

AirSea Lines will make an historic landing on the River Thames on Tuesday, as it flies one of its DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft into London for demonstrations. “The landing is a nostalgic reminder of the golden age of travel,” AirSea Lines says. “Before the Second World War seaplanes regularly used the Thames for flights to Egypt and India.”

AirSea Lines is a Canadian-owned company founded in 2003 by Mike Patellis and Steve Earle, the airline’s CEO. Greg McDougal, owner of the largest scheduled service seaplane operator in the world, Harbour Air of Canada, is an investor.

Source:
AirSea Lines International (Canada) Limited
Sutra, Inc.

Demand Soars for Air Wales Flights

September 14, 2004 “We’ve already taken bookings for months in advance, which is a very positive sign of the route’s future success.” Roy Thomas Chairman Air Wales Ltd. Demand Soars for Dublin Flights Unforeseen demand for flights from Norwich to Dublin has seen the service increased from three days a week to five — before it has even been launched. The move comes weeks after Air Wales first announced it was to operate the low-cost service from Norwich International airport. The Welsh-based airline was trialling a service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and hoped to be able to review this next season if passenger numbers permitted. But the volume of customer telephone and web inquiries from those wanting to fly from Norwich was 40pc more than anticipated. And the overwhelming response has seen a Friday and Sunday service being introduced — allowing easier weekend breaks to the southern Irish capital. Commercial director Trevor Eady said: “This is fantastic news. “We have always known a significant demand existed for Dublin and to see such a huge response to the introduction of the route two months before the first flight confirms our expectations of its success. “It’s great to see an airline react so quickly to the demand.” Mr Eady said the additional frequencies would open the doors to the airport working with tourism agencies in both Norwich and Dublin and will satisfy business needs. “The Friday and Sunday flights will satisfy the demand for weekend breaks at either end of the route,” he said. Air Wales chairman Roy Thomas said: “The response from customers has been extremely positive, and we’ve already taken bookings for months in advance, which is a very positive sign of the route’s future success. “What we are now able to offer is a robust service which aims to fulfil the needs of both the business and leisure traveller from East Anglia, and we’re hopeful this will open many business and leisure opportunities.” The flights, which when introduced with a Cardiff service were the first budget fares for the airport, are £39.99 each way. They are part of plans to offer a bigger variety of deals to more destinations in a bid to boost Norwich International’s passenger numbers. To book seats visit www.airwales.com or call 0870 777 3131. Source: The Business